For over six years, University Housing has been utilizing MAP-Works with the goal of increasing student retention and improving student success rates.
Provost and Executive Vice President John Wiencek decided to expand MAP-Works this year
by making the program available to all first-year students, regardless of living arrangements.
In past years, MAP-Works was only an option for first-year students who lived in University Housing and was not available to first-year students living off campus or in a Greek house.
The program helps student accomplishment and was created through a partnership between Ball State University and Educational Benchmarking, Inc. It was an evolution of “MAP,” the program originally developed by Ball State to address issues that first-year students were having.
Ball State and EBI presented MAP-Works at various conferences throughout the nation, including the National Housing Conference.
Corey Ray, associate director of University Housing, said it was at this conference that University Housing caught wind of the program and decided to incorporate it into the University of Idaho.
“This was another way that we could work with our students that lived within the Resident Halls to help them succeed towards their goals and help the overall retention at the university,” Ray said.
So far, Ray said the program has proved a successful tool.
Sometime in September, UI students will receive an email invitation to take a survey. This survey, along with information already known by housing such as GPA and SAT scores, will be taken and used to generate a report that shows how students are doing, Ray said.
“It is just another way the institution is committed to making sure (students) succeed academically,” Ray said.
These reports are done on a color system. Green indicates the student has no substantial need for outside help, yellow means that intercommunication would be beneficial and red indicates that a conversation between the student and an adviser is highly recommended, Ray said.
If a conversation with a student is highly recommended, Ray said it could indicate they plan to transfer or not return to the university.
This could be because the university does not have a certain major, but it could also signify that the student is experiencing financial or academic troubles, Ray said. In the latter case, he said students are connected with faculty members, tutoring or financial aid as needed.
All students who take the survey will be emailed results within two weeks, often sooner.
Ray said this email will include information about social norms as determined by the surveys as well as recommendations on what the student can do to enhance their academic experience.
In spring, all students who participated in the fall will be invited to take a voluntary follow-up survey to indicate their progression or newly developed problems, he said.
Nina Rydalch can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @NinaRobin7