DSA Assessment Plan
Department Name:
Assessment Plan for Academic
Year:
Director:
Dean of Students Office
2013-2014
Dr. William F. Munson
Assessment Contact(s)
(if not the director):
Department Mission Statement:
The University of Houston Dean of Students Office creates a culture of care for students, their families, and faculty and staff by providing programs and services that are designed to enhance students’ academic and personal success.
Department Vision Statement:
The University of Houston Dean of Students Office will be recognized for exemplary programs and services, grounded in ethical and moral principles, which promote student advocacy, campus engagement, and holistic student development.
1. Hire and train Case Manager position as provided by SFAC in FY14. (DSA Initiative: Student Success, Innovation)
Department Goals:
2.Work with the Division of Student Affairs Information Technology Unit to identify technology needs and implement technology strategies to support electronic office operations. (DSA Initiative: Student Experience)
3. Maintain student conduct database software (Maxient). (DSA Initiative: Innovation)
4. Collaborate with other UH units regarding the applicability of Maxient to support their functions (Student
Housing and Residential Life, Equal Opportunity Services, Academic Program Management, Human Resources,
5.Develop a marketing document describing general Dean of Students Office services and continue marketing individual programs and services. (DSA Initiative: Collective Identity)
6. Identify and fund staff professional development opportunities. (DSA Initiative: Strategic Partnerships)
7. Develop and offer student advocacy training programs in partnership with institutional stakeholders. (DSA
Initiative: Student Success, Strategic Partnerships)
8. Continue collaborative efforts with other UH units to enhance UH parent/family programs. (DSA Initiative:
Strategic Partnerships)
9. Implement Map-Works, in collaboration with Student Housing and Residential Life, to provide an early intervention with at-risk commuter students. (DSA Initiative: Student Success, Strategic Partnerships)
10. Develop and implement a pilot program for commuter peer mentoring to help first year commuter students successfully transition to the university. (DSA Initiative: Student Success, Strategic Partnerships)
11. Engage with other UH units/offices as appropriate to support transfer student engagement and success. (DSA
Initiative: Student Success)
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DSA Assessment Plan
Program or Services Being Assessed: Commuter Student Services
Learning Outcome(s) and/or
Program Objective(s)
Method
Commuter Students who participate in
MapWorks will increase their knowledge about University resources and develop a greater connection to the campus community.
First year commuter students will be encouraged to take the
Map-Works survey at the end of September. The survey responses, calculated by Map-
Works, will determine a student's "risk-level" and help to coordinate early intervention efforts by DOS with identified commuter students. Participants will also receive a customized report to identifing behaviors necessary to succeed and information helping them to connect to campus resources/support services. A second survey will be given in November to assess any change in these students' behaviors and beliefs.
Annual
Frequency
Timeline
(Month)
Purpose Goal(s) Supported
Surveys distributed during
Fall semester (September,
December). Assessment of
Map-Works impact on
Commuter Students will take place in the spring semester.
To establish a base-line for the
Map-Works program with first year commuter students. To determine the impact of
Mapworks on participating commuter students.
DOS goal #9 (listed above) and DSA Initiatives: Student
Success, Strategic
Partnerships
Results:
The change in students behaviors/retention cannot be determined till after a full year cycle of the MAP-Works Program. Therefore data will not be available until the fall 2014 semester. When this program outcome was originally written, I mistakenly thought that data would be accessible during each semester. Data is only available to compare after one full-year cycle per the direction of MAP-Works.
Preliminary findings show that the top concerns for UH commuter students revolve around: Inadequate study time, Financial concerns,
Low Peer Connections, and Time management. Additional details on the findings will be available Fall 2014.
Action:
How MAP-Works data is collected and analyzed, from the UH perspective, has changed as we have a better understanding of the program.
For the 2014-2015 academic year we will continue to focus on FTIC commuter students. As SHRL funded this project this past year, DOS will request a one time-allocation from SFAC this year to help pay for the commuter portion of the MAP-Works Program.
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DSA Assessment Plan
Program or Services Being Assessed: Student Conduct Process Evaluation & Outcomes
Learning Outcome(s) and/or
Program Objective(s)
Method Frequency
Timeline
(Month)
Purpose
Students referred for alleged violations of the Student Code of Conduct will be able to discuss the disciplinary process, from beginning to end, as well as their rights and responsibilities as members of the UH community.
An electronic survey consisting of fill in the blank responses will be used to determine how well students know the disciplinary process. The assessment will be
For the Fall 2013, referred students information will be collected and they will be randomly selected to participate in the electronic survey at the beginning of the Spring
We will pilot this assessment in the Dean of
Students Office for the students referred during the 2013-2014 academic year. We will expand the assessment to include
The purpose of this assessment is to provide our office with a better understanding of how students interpret our conduct process as well as their rights & available for referred students to complete, while in the presence of their Hearing Officer, before their case is considered closed.
2014. Beginning in the
Spring 2014, the referred student must complete the disciplinary process assessment in the presence of their Hearing
Officer.
Student Housing &
Residential Life hearing officers in the Fall 2014.
responsibilities.
Goal(s) Supported
DOS Goal #1 & #3 (Listed
Above) and DSA
Initiatives: Student
Success & Innovation
Results:
The intention of developing a cohesive assessment plan to measure student learning as it pertains to the student conduct process was not implemented in a fashion that produced the data needed. A change in office staff structure did not allow this assessment measure to get the attention that it needed.
Action:
Now that the DOS office is fully staffed, a commitment to being able to measure student learning through the student conduct process has been implemented. Through the use of pre/post conduct meeting assessments, we will be able to report on various aspects of student learning as it pertains to knowledge acquisition as well as student-centered ownership of actions.
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DSA Assessment Plan
Program or Services Being Assessed: DOS Student Advocacy & Support Services
Learning Outcome(s) and/or
Program Objective(s)
To establish a baseline for how students utilize and learn about our advocacy services in the Dean of Students Office.
Method
An electronic Student
Advocacy form has been created through
CampusLabs designed to capture demographic information about the student, the service they
Annual
Frequency
Timeline
(Month)
Purpose
Every time a student comes into the DOS
Office, they will have to complete the survey to determine the purpose for visiting and how they heard about our services.
The purpose of this assessment is to establish a baseline of data that would provide insight on how students utilize and are referred to our student advocacy & support utilized through the Dean of Students Office, and how they heard about our office services. A modified form has been created for phone calls we receive about our services.
At the end of the 2013-
2014 academic year, we will review the data for themes, trends, and results.
services.
Goal(s) Supported
DOS Goal #4 & #7 (Listed
Above) and DSA
Initiatives: Student
Success & Strategic
Partnerships
Results:
A basic form was designed using Campus Labs' COLLEGIATE LINK that required students to sign-in when they visited the Dean of Students office. The data collected through this process was not standardized and left "too much" interpretation up to the student who was signing-in for their appointment. Given such, this data cannot be accurately reported for the areas of "error" are far too great.
Action:
Now that the DOS office is fully staffed, a commitment to being able to measure student learning and student success through the student advocacy process has been implemented.
Through the use of pre/post advocacy services meeting assessments, we will be able to report on various aspects of student learning and student success as it pertains to knowledge acquisition and University department's contributions to student success.
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