In the spring of 2018, students completed the Student Satisfaction Inventory (SSI). The SSI highlights students’ satisfaction with their entire experience on campus, from beginning to end and both in and out of the classroom. It is a lengthy survey and we appreciate students’ time in participating in the survey. We greatly value the information the SSI tells us about the student experience. As such, the Division of Student Affairs set out to identify two goals for improving the student experience based upon the results of the SSI. Those two goals are enhancing opportunities for student feedback and students’ sense of belonging on campus, both of which we see as essential to continuously improving the student experience.
The Student Affairs Assessment Committee has outlined new efforts that offices within the division have developed during the 2018-2019 academic year to support these two goals. We share them with the Wentworth community to reinforce our commitment to analyzing and using information that students supply to us through various surveys and evaluations. The outline of these new efforts is below.
Channels for Expressing Feedback are Readily Available
Establish Standard Customer Service Practices
- Developed Divisional guiding customer service principles for customer service
- Increased training, development, and resource materials for student employees
- Established “feedback box” in divisional offices for anonymous feedback
- Creating “hello space” to encourage increased student interaction
- Incorporated new hardware/software to streamline procedures for office interaction
Identify Ways to Increase Avenues to Communicate Information to Students
- Merged office’s calendar of events with the Institute’s master calendar
- Increased frequency and response rate of social media posts and interactions
- Tabling and asking students to provide feedback on their Wentworth experience
- Emails, posters, and social media campaigns outlining changes based on student feedback
- “Outside the Classroom Learning” added to campus center to visualize student achievement
- Modified email communications to include prompts to illicit student feedback
- Created mobile app feature – Leopard Link – to gather student feedback
- Offer “open forums” and encourage more frequent opportunities for immediate feedback
- 2019-2020: Conduct specific SSI-related focus groups with students regarding student satisfaction
All Students Feel a Sense of Belonging Here
Identify A Variety of Different Ways to Connect Students
- Increased meetings and targeted conversations with student leaders across departments
- Instituted “Pre-WOW” programs for increased social connection
- Established broader identity-based programs and celebrations for developing community
- Involvement Fair included assessment of students and club leaders and sense of belonging
- Boosted partnerships with Colleges of the Fenway for activities and programs
- Maximized attention towards developing meaningful 1-on-1 relationships
- Educated divisional members about roles and office resources to promote targeted referrals
- 2019-2020: Creating a campaign to market connectedness; attached to Student Affairs Strategic Goal to “Empower Students to Develop Meaningful Relationships and Connections.”
Use Existing Data to Identify Students at Risk of Not Connecting
- First-Year Seminar included a component where instructors could identify at-risk students
- First-generation college student information session at Wentworth Opening Week
- Increased partnerships among offices to offer programs and services at reduced rate or free
- Introduced a new Veterans-focused Wentworth Opening Week Group and piloting a “Boston ” FYS class
We look forward to continuing this work to improve the student experience, particularly in partnership with Wentworth Student Government, President Thompson, and many colleagues across campus.