Company seeks student opinions on campus services

The office of the Dean of Students has contracted a company to collect
data and analyze student opinions about services available on campus.

Dean of Students Bruce Roscoe said Student Voice provides
institutions assistance in gathering information about campus services
and activities.

Roscoe said the information is gathered through Web site surveys and
Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) devices.

“They provide a snapshot of what people are thinking,” Roscoe said.
“They help us get a good representative sample of student opinions.”

Roscoe said the tools are quick and easy to use. Career Services
used the devices last year at the end of their career fair to get
feedback on what should be changed for the event the following year.

“Large events like CMU and You Day and New Student Orientation used
the devices for immediate feedback,” Roscoe said.

The Leadership Institute used the devices last year as well.

“Our office used the devices as much as possible to see if we were
meeting student needs,” said Dan Gaken, coordinator for student
leadership development. “We will be using the tool to assess our
leadership programs.”

Gaken said the device will be used to assess programs such as
LeaderShape and Leadership Safari.

“It’s imperative to assess what we do,” Gaken said. “We need to be
as efficient as possible running the programs we offer.”

Before contracting Student Voice, student service offices used Web
site-based research and handwritten surveys to determine students’
opinions about events held on campus.

“Using this tool allows us to interpret data immediately and let us
have more meaningful results,” Gaken said.

Roscoe and Gaken both said it is their hope that student
organizations such as Student Government Association will take
advantage of this tool for immediate student reactions about particular
issues on campus.

Gaken will be coordinating the use of the tool this year and will
assist in the training and use of the hardware.

The contract with Student Voice is for one year only. It may be
renewed the following year if there is still a demand for the product’s
use.