Group Assessment

Project: The Exploring

Majors Fair

CAHE 572
Christina Carpio, David Dosier, Sandy Henert, Tasha Smith

Background

The Exploring Majors Fair

Designed to provide students with information about majors, minors, and
other academic opportunities; target population is freshman and
sophomore students
65-85% of students typically change their majors
Also provides academic departments a chance to showcase their
programs
Previous
Held data
annually in September for a few hours on one day
Participant lists (both student and faculty) from 2014 are available
Data from 2014s Exit Survey taken of both students and faculty

FACULTY
Using a Lickert Scale, 70% of faculty rated the event either a 4 or 5;
27% rated it a 3.
92% of faculty said they received information about the fair in a
timely manner
90% of faculty said the fair was offered at an appropriate time of day

STUDENTS
57% of participants heard of the fair through their UNIV 101 instructor
25% heard of the fair through poster or flyer ads
12% heard of the fair from an academic advisor
93% rated the fair a 4 or 5 (n=225)

* The Exploring Majors Fair is seen as a quality event among those who attend

Context

Key organizational characteristics

Office of Academic Advising is the host agency for the event
The EMF Planning Group consists of two staff members with GA assistance
This is an annual event that occurs in September each year; target is undecided major

Assessment Goals
Provide assessment information to the EMF Planning Group on how NIU
staff (ie Academic Advisors, Faculty Advisors, and Support Offices) and
students view the program.
Understand what program improvements need to be made
Understand how specific new additions and enhancements to the fair
Groups
to be
bereceived
assessed
would
Students
Advisors
Faculty
Use of results
Possible adjustments to the Exploring Majors Fair for 2015

Literature Review
Sense of Community
Encouragement of Major and Career
Exploration
Promoting of Academic Engagement
and Leadership
Recommendations offered for Fairs

Literature Review
Sense of Community
- Students can feel connected to the university,
faculty and staff as well as other students who
are exploring majors as well.
- Educators at all levels believe that frequent,
meaningful interactions between students and
their teachers are important to learning and
personal development
- Students who make at least one connection with
an adult faculty/staff member on campus
experience higher satisfaction and retention rates

Literature Review
Encouragement of Major and Career
Exploration
Major Exploration
-These students also have access to How to Choose a
Major workshops a well as interest groups that focus on
major and career exploration
-Major and career indecision is especially challenging for
not just incoming freshmen or undecided students but
also for sophomore and junior transfer students who
have increased pressure to make those decisions in a
timely fashion

Literature Review
Career Exploration
-Students need to know their interests and goals
before they make those decisions
- The Job Development Program has a big role in
helping "deciding students focus on a career path,
because the Career Center at University of Missouri
encourages students to explore different major and
career possibilities
- Beloit College offers the grants to support the
students to travel, do research, and start a
business, something they always wanted to do
but lack the resources

Literature Review
Promoting of Academic
Engagement and Leadership
Several institutions provide opportunities for
sophomores to co-teach or assist in teaching that not
only develop leadership potential but also help
engage them academically
These classroom experiences help students gain
leadership skills as well as academic expertise

Literature Review

Recommendations from the

Literature

Some recommendations from the Tobolowsky (2008) article

mention working together in groups, making it a tradition or
requirement, and assessing the impact of the exploring
majors event
Assessment is also key for both the institution as well as
the students. This allows for the student to recap on the
event and to add what they felt stood out as effective and
what needs to be improved. This information is important
for the institution because it allows for them to understand
what needs to be changed to make the event much better
for semesters to come (Tobolowsky, 2008).
If student satisfaction is the goal, it appears that colleges
and universities should develop and sustain a welcoming,
supportive, and affirming environment (Khu and Hu, 2001).

Population and Sample

Students Faculty / Advisors

Attended

Attended
Did not attend

Did not attend

Attended

Did Not Attend

Dept. POC

Focus Group
Goal: 10
Actual: 4

Focus Group
Goal: 10
Actual: 8

Interviews
Goal: 13
Actual: 8

List of attendees 2014

Exploring Majors LLC

Exploring Majors LLC

Advising Center (Undecideds)
Volunteer connections

List of POCs 2014

Academic
Advisors
Online Survey
Goal: 50
Actual: 22
List of current
advisors
Email to Advising
Deans and all
Advisors

election approach
Volunteers; minor incentive (t-shirt)
Advisor mix goal is 50/50 mix of general and college
Faculty 13 total; hand-selected by AAC client based on likely engagement level

Faculty: Interviews

arget Group: Dept faculty who manned a table at EMF14

Data Collection Type: Interviews (phone) or email questions
N= 8
Data from last year: ~70% of faculty rated the EMF 4 or 5 out of 5
Event should be renamed (more than just majors)
Students should have a passport card to force them to talk to people at the tables
nterview focus:
Level of preparedness for faculty to work the EMF
Level of buy-in towards the EMF among faculty
Perception of student interest
Recommendations for improvement (from a faculty perspective)
Do you feel you were given enough advance notice from your dept about
covering the EMF?
Did you receive any guidance from your dept or any other office in how to
perform your duties? Do you think tips would be useful?
Do you see this as an important event for your students? For your dept? For your
college?
Did you feel the EMF was effective in providing information to students about
majors?
What was your perception of student interest at the fair? Did any students give
you feedback after the fair?
If you were in charge of organizing next years EMF, what approach would you
take or what changes would you make to last years program?

Advisors: Survey

rget Group: Academic Advisors (Advising Center and college level; not major advisors)
ta Collection Type: Online survey
= 16
ta from last year: None from this specific group
rvey focus:
Gauge level of support of EMF among advisors (General vs. College)
Perception of student interest
Query other ideas on major exploration
Recommendations for improvement of the EMF

What did you see as your role in the Exploring Majors Fair program? (multiple choice)
Do you see this as an important event for your students? For your dept? For your
college? (Y or N)
Did you feel the Exploring Majors Fair is the most effective way to meet a students
learning outcome of exploring major/minor opportunities? Yes or No
If no, what other approaches would you suggest? (write in answer)
Did any students give you feedback after the fair? (Y, positive; Y, negative, Y, mixed,
N)
With our goal to expand the Exploring Majors Fair as a campus wide Advising Event,
what key elements or activities do you feel need to be present during or at this event?
(Write in answer)
How do you define an Advising Event? (Write in answer)

Students: Focus Group

get Group: Students who attended the EMF last year

a Collection Type: Focus group
4
a from last year: Exit survey (93% rated 4 or 5); increase social media advertising; free food
us Group focus:
How students heard of the event; better ways to advertise
Satisfaction with last years event; suggestions for improvement
Perception of logistical aspects of the event
Perception of faculty support to the event

How did you hear about the major fair?

Were you given an incentive for attending, and if so what was the incentive (extra credit,
grade, food, etc)?
Did you have an idea of what major or minor you wanted to learn more about?
What could NIU have added to their advertising and marketing to get more students to
attend?
What is one thing we can add or change to make the job major fair a better experience?
What year in school were you when you attended the fair?
If you were either a junior or senior, was this your first semester at NIU?
How would you describe the engagement of the faculty you interacted with at the fair?
Did the fair help you decide on either your major or minor, and if so how did they help?

Students: Focus Group

Target Group: Students who did not attend the EMF last year
Data Collection Type: Focus group
N= 8
Data from last year: None
Focus Group focus:
Why students did not attend last years event
What changes might influence more people to attend next year
Ideas of other ways to help students explore and choose a major

Did you know that NIU offered an exploring majors fair?

What type of advertisements did you see on campus for the major fair?
Did a professor announce the EMF in your class, and if so what class?
If you knew about the fair, why didnt you attend?
Were you offered any type of incentive if you would have attended, if so what (extra
credit, etc)?
What else would influence you to attend the major fair?
What do you think is the best way to help students explore majors?

Data Analysis
Each cohort result (focus group notes, survey results, and
interview themes) were reviewed by the assessor, who developed
themes from the data
The summaries were then analyzed for common themes
throughout all groups and distinctions. From these common
themes, findings were developed.
The findings will be reduced to short sentences and then used to
create recommendations to the AAC for EMF 15

Themes
Student Participants of EMF 14
o Most attended because their fellow UNIV classmates went or extra
credit was offered
o Perceptions of faculty engagement / enthusiasm were mixed
o Most were not aware that EMF included minors and certificate
programs
o Departments or majors that were not present were viewed poorly
o Suggestions included arranging the tables by academic area,
highlighting minors and certificate programs more, increasing
marketing effort, and making the event mandatory for undecided
majors

Themes
Student Non-Participants of EMF 14
o If students have decided on a major, they are not likely to want to
attend
o Students werent clear on where the event was held or other details of
the event
o Suggestions included providing incentives (giveaways) to participants,
relating the major to possible career paths, mass emails to all
freshmen and transfer students about the event, and providing an
interactive element to the information tables

Themes
Academic Advisors
o Advisors feel the EMF is a important event in providing information
about majors to students, but also feel it is not the most effective
method
o Advisors did not receive feedback from the event from students
o Suggestions included making EMF mandatory for all UNIV 101
students, include career services in the fair, offer incentives to
students, and increased advertising of the event

Advisor Survey
2. Do you see this as an important event
for your students? For your dept? For your
college?

11
5

3. Did you feel the Exploring Majors Fair is the most

effective way to meet a students learning out...

9
7

Themes
Faculty
o Faculty perception of the usefulness of the EMF is mixed; smaller,
under-represented programs found the most value
o The EMF is effective in providing information to students and should
be the only expectation of the event
o Suggestions included organizing the tables by college, connect the
EMF with UNIV 101 with an assignment, increase digital advertising /
notices, provide gifts / incentives to students, make the event venue
more appealing to the audience, and change the name to highlight
the scope of the event.

Findings
Perceptions of the usefulness of the Exploring Majors Fair is
mixed. Advisors see it as very valuable, while faculty are mixed,
and most students reportedly found little value. This may be
attributed to a lack of awareness among students of the scope of
the event (majors, minors and other programs) and the potential
connection to career success
All parties agreed that incentives to attend would be a positive
motivator to increase attendance
Student awareness of the information available at the EMF is
lacking and the venue needs to be more upbeat / aesthetically
pleasing

Recommendations
Consider changing the name of the event to something more
broadly in order to stir interest among those interested in minor
and/or certificates. (Rationale: Many students will not go if they
have decided on a major or career path).
Academic Program Fair
Exploring Majors and Minor Fair
Major and Minor Decisions Fair
Major and Minor Fair (M&M Fair)
Increase the marketing effort, both through physical and digital
means. Consider mass emailing, NIU website coverage, and other
methods to generate interest. Consider partnering with a graduate
communications or marketing class for the planning and execution

Recommendations
Make the event mandatory for UNIV 101 sections or work with
the First-Year Experience office to at least provide an incentive for
instructors to incorporate the event into the curriculum
Provide giveaways or hold a raffle for something students would
value (like a gaming system or tablet or an outdoor rec trip, etc) in
order to increase attendance
Consider incorporating interactive activities for majors and
career paths. (examples: Nursing-learn how to take blood
pressure, Engineering- exhibit robots/technology, Businessshowcase possible careers)
Encourage colleges to emphasize career success and highlight
what possible careers someone with that major or minor might
have. Encourage diversifying their academic experience with a
minor that may complement the major in a more specialized field.
These tips / encourages could come from the AAC when they
notify colleges of the upcoming EMF

Summary
Assessment Goals

Provide assessment information to the EMF Planning Group on how NIU

staff (ie Academic Advisors, Faculty Advisors, and Support Offices) and
students view the program.

Understand what program improvements need to be made

Understand how specific new additions and enhancements to the fair

would be received

Questions?