Day 1 - Concurrent Session 2
Trending, tweeting, and tiktoking - Keeping up with Gen Z students
Presented by: Maria Carroll & Samantha Kenny, Memorial University
Undergraduate students who transitioned to post-secondary education between spring 2020 and fall 2022 were oriented to campus in either a fully remote or a hybrid environment. In some cases, students had never been on campus physically. Other students may have only visited campus with restrictions in place. As a result, many students who began their studies over two years combined with incoming students in the fall experienced on-campus life for the first time.
The ‘BE’ series was a strategic student-centered digital campaign and contest. The campaign featured a student touring different campus locations, sharing information to prepare students for the upcoming academic year. Videos aimed to provide students coming to campus for the first time with information to support their transition, including, finding social activities, academic support, and services to enhance their safety and well-being (e.g., accessibility services, mental health services, recreation, food services, campus enforcement, safety resources). The campaign had two deliverables, a social media campaign, and a contest, developed and informed by student development theory, research, and best practice. The two-part campaign involved an information component followed by an activity component delivered over a six-week period. We will review the social media metrics that were monitored throughout the campaign and discuss the recommendations implemented based on these metrics.
Go With The Flow: Reassessing What it Feels Like to Be Prepare
Presented by: Kate McHugh, Becca Chaytor, Kim Penney, & Bill Travis, Saint Mary’s University
Excited to Reboot & Unmute, the Fred Smithers Centre for Student Accessibility at Saint Mary’s University felt prepared and calm going into the Final Exam period in December 2022. The semester had gone very well with our students back on campus, and our designated testing centre – specifically designed for in-person examinations - was ready to go! With exams starting Monday morning, none of us could have predicted the phone call received Sunday evening at 9:00 pm – our beloved Centre had flooded, and we would not be allowed back in the building for the next few days, possibly weeks. With over 650 students writing with us over the next 10 days we knew we had to act fast and communicate well.
Join us in this interactive workshop where we will share our decision-making strategies, highlight our successes (and stumbles), praise the university community that rallied around us, admire the resilience of our students, and reflect on a bonding experience that rivals any formal team-building exercise. We will identify lessons learned for the future, look to hear how some of our colleagues may have handled this situation in their own settings, and discuss what it really means to be “prepared” in today’s world.
Sexual Health: A University students’ perspective
Presented by: Cindy Crossman & Miriam Dysart, Mount Allison University
If you were thinking of improving the programming and the delivery of sexual health education to students, what are the first few things you would ask? We conducted an online survey comparing student knowledge and behavior from pre-university to the end of their first semester. We also evaluated changes in student perspectives on preferred delivery model and sources of sexual health information to increase sexual health education.
This presentation will include a brief review of university students’ sexual behaviors and attitudes and their correlation with past sex education experiences; explore how students’ sexual behaviors and attitudes might change during the first semester of university; identification of sexual health education priorities for effective education delivery and promotion within the University population; overview of the sexual health education strategies selected; an outline of the delivery method and survey approach including tools used; and, survey findings including identification of the preferred method and by whom to receive the sexual health education message and finally, any impact on future behaviors and /or recommendations that may have surfaced from the research including creating innovative ways to reach students on their turf for receiving education.
Re-Booting International Co-op Integrated Learning Opportunities
Presented by: Coreen Bennett & Danielle Jackson, Memorial University
Post-pandemic, International work terms have been recovering as Cooperative Education Services Coordinator’s focus was to rebuild the access for students, in partnership with Memorial’s co-op offices and Internationalization Office. Over the past year, there has been an increase in international work terms placements, as international travel begins to rebound. The employers abroad have had an ongoing interest in Memorials Co-operative educations students for decades with thousands of students working in over 40 countries spanning 6 continents since 1969.
In a student service delivery role, the focus over the past 16 months was to rejuvenate and re-energize the interest by restarting the conversation with students, employers and outside stakeholders. This presentation will share the evolution of Memorial’s outbound mobility, as well as partnerships and processes that are being used to infuse international work terms through sharing our employer placement research and connections approach and student connections both pre and post pandemic.