- Profile of Phillip Humphreys
- Plaudits
- Service Awards
- Colleague to Colleague: Caitlin Roberts reports on the rich history of Greek life at The Beach
- Spotlight on Beach Pride Center
- Unit Activities
- A CLASS Act
- Students Participate in Internships at The Washington Center
- Meet Erin Swetland
- Student Nuggets
- Alternative Spring Break 2009
- Facts About The Beach
- Target Case Study Competition Held
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A CLASS Act
Innovative Collaboration Offers Workshops in lieu of Cancelled Classes
During 2008-09, the Division of Student Services introduced a new collaborative program to the campus. Known as the CLASS Project, the program was designed with the organizing principle of providing educational workshops that can be scheduled to substitute for class sessions when faculty might otherwise have to cancel classes due to conference travel or presentations. Instead, a student services professional presents the class with an enriching and informative educational and developmental workshop that focuses on students’ academic, career, social and interpersonal development.
Career + Leadership + Academics
= Student Success
The basis for the CLASS Project stemmed from an idea that Jeff Klaus, director of Student Life and Development, and Manuel Pérez, director of the Career Development Center, conceived as a collaboration to unite their Student Services departments while reaching out to faculty and the Academic Affairs Division.
To manage requests, Klaus and Pérez chose to pilot the program to a group of faculty who worked with their departments in the past. Invitations offering 12 workshops were sent to this group of faculty, with sessions varying from one to two hours in length. Faculty could choose from the list of workshops depending on the type of learning outcome that would best complement their course content and meet the needs of their students. Workshops and presentations ranged from “Resume Writing and Job Search Strategies” to “Ethics,” “Conflict Management” and “Communication Skills.” An online form also was developed for faculty to use to request a workshop or presentation for one of their class sessions.
Following each session, an evaluation was administered to students and faculty members to assess learning outcomes and the overall effectiveness of the presentations. Students were asked to rate their knowledge in the subject area both before and after the presentation(s) and faculty members were asked to provide feedback on the process, relevance and significance of the CLASS project.
Overall, student evaluations proved very positive, with high rankings for both presenters and content. Evaluations completed by faculty showed that the process for requesting presentations and the committee’s response to the requests was timely, fluid and appreciated. In the coming year, the CDC and SLD plan to offer the workshops to more faculty and incorporate additional Student Services departments.