Just Checking In!

Toward the middle of the semester I was starting to notice that quite a few of my residents were having roommate, homework, and personal issues. Part of my job is to address these issues that my residents are having and help them to solve the issue, whatever it may be. However, I was having trouble addressing their issues because I wasn't being told about the issues until they had already progressed to a point where they were hard to fix.

In order to combat this problem, I thought it would be a good idea to check in with each of my residents. As much as I wanted to be able to do one-on-one conferences with my residents, I didn't have the time because I have so many residents. Instead, I decided to send out a survey for my residents to fill out. In the directions I asked my residents to be completely honest about their feelings so I could help them if they needed it.

Making the survey was extremely easy and I was able to get the information I needed in an organized, timely manner. Google has an option to make a "live form" through their Google Doc system. This form can be designed in any way you want. This format helps the residents fill out a simple survey while giving the information to the CA in an organized manner (excel spreadsheet). Here is a picture of the form I made for my residents so you can have an idea:

 

These are the questions I asked on the survey:

• Name
• How many credit hours are you taking this semester?
• Are there any classes you are struggling with? If so, what classes?
• Are you familiar with the tutoring services on campus?
•  Do you know how to find the tutoring services/where they are on campus?
• How is your room/ living arrangement?
• Are there any roommates/suitemates you are clashing with? If yes, who is the roommate/suitemate and what are some of the problems you are having?
•  What clubs/activities are you involved in on campus? 
•  Have you had trouble making friends here?
•  What could Kevin (co) and I do to make your experience here better?
•  Other questions, comments, concerns? 

Overall, I think that my residents were pretty honest in their answers to these questions and it helped me to guage a littler better what I needed to do to help them.

Although I didn't get the personal interaction that comes with a one-on-one, I thought the survey was a great approach to finding out how my residents were adapting to college life.

There were some other benefits that came out of making students complete this survey. Many students provided suggestions for new events or activities in the suggestions box. One great suggestion that I got was posting a poster in the hall that allowed students to see who else on the floor had their same class/professor. I thought it was a great suggestion and so I created a poster and put it up in my hall. This is what it looks like:

 So far I've had a few residents use it, but it hasn't caught on yet. My thought now is that I will make a new one for second semester and ask all my residents to use it so that they can study with their floor mates.

My overarching theme of this post is simply this: There are many benefits that come out of taking the time to see how your residents are doing. Not only will you get closer to them and more involved in their lives, but you will also get great suggestions on how to do your job better/ service your floor better.