Residence Life Assessment

I also created a series of smaller, more irreverent ads based on popular memes and e-cards to be posted on individual room/apartment doors or shared via social media.

Following the 2011 assessment period, my supervisor and I concluded that we could increase our return rates by offering incentives to residents. I worked with the Associate Director managing the project to choose a series of incentives based on a budget of $500. In 2012 we opted to provide a mix of smaller gift cards to local restaurants and movie theaters, as well as tickets to Broadway musicals (Spamalot and The Lion King). During the implementation of the assessment, we received student feedback indicating that the students had the greatest interest in the larger prizes. Because of that, in 2013, I opted to purchase tickets to Wicked, a John Mayer concert, and a San Antonio Spurs basketball game rather than several smaller gift cards. In both years, we offered two priority housing spots, which had no cash value.

Residence Directors were asked to check off the names of residents who completed paper surveys on a roster, and the names of Apartment residents who responded to the survey were automatically noted on the web site. Names were drawn at random, and only those who had completed the assessment were awarded prizes.

Selection of Award Winners: 2012 Process

In 2012, I developed a custom field in StarRez (the department's Housing Management Software) that allowed Residence Directors to check off the names of individuals who had completed the assessment. I periodically ran a report consisting of basic demographic information for residents for whom this box was checked and exported this report to an Excel spreadsheet, which gave each student a number corresponding with the line on which his or her name was listed. I determined an order in which prizes would be given away, and selected numbers at random using random.org. Prizes were awarded to residents whose names coincided with the randomly chosen numbers.

Selection of Award Winners: 2013 Process

Following the 2013 survey administration, we received feedback that requiring Residence Directors to check off names in the custom field was a time consuming process. In order to cut down on the administrative work load for colleagues, the process was altered so that Residence Directors only needed to send me a scanned copy of a roster indicating which students had completed the survey.

Instead of creating a spreadsheet based on the students who had completed the survey, I generated a report of all residents living on campus. I continued to draw random numbers in the same manner as the previous year, but this time, I checked the name associated with the randomly drawn number against the roster provided by the appropriate colleague. If a randomly chosen student had not completed the assessment, new random numbers were selected until an eligible student was chosen. Because of this, I was able to maintain a streamlined process for awarding prizes while considerably decreasing the time commitment required of my colleagues to help prepare the needed reports.