Presence
In order for an RLC to achieve its purpose successfully, students should be aware of its existence, philosophy, and programming. Presence is a major factor, if not a prerequisite, for an effective RLC system. Therefore, we wanted to determine the degree to which students were aware and knowledgable about their RLC and its theme at a fundamental level.
"Presence" in this context, is defined as the extent to which RLCs play a role in and influence students' college experiences at a basic level. To measure presence, we tested students' knowledge of the individual themes and purpose of the RLCs at SCU, and measured their participation in RLC-sponsored activities and/or RLC-linked classes. We also tailored some questions to get a better idea of how students perceived RLCs as a whole in relation to traditional dorms.
"Presence" in this context, is defined as the extent to which RLCs play a role in and influence students' college experiences at a basic level. To measure presence, we tested students' knowledge of the individual themes and purpose of the RLCs at SCU, and measured their participation in RLC-sponsored activities and/or RLC-linked classes. We also tailored some questions to get a better idea of how students perceived RLCs as a whole in relation to traditional dorms.
Results
Where do you live on campus?This was our first question, and we wanted to test whether students would identify their living space as a dorm or an RLC. The data shows that 90% of first-year residents identify with their dorm over their RLC. This confirms a belief that we had coming into this project, that first-years do not feel as though they are living in an RLC as opposed to a traditional dorm. However, given that the wording of this question warrants a physical location answer, the results may have been skewed towards dorms if respondents thought that RLCs were more abstract.
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Which RLC are you a part of?This question allowed us to establish a baseline level of understanding in regards to the presence of the RLCs. For this question, we included an "I don't know" option, but zero respondents chose it. As can be seen in the chart on the right, every single first-year student was able to identify their respective RLC, and this shows that at a very fundamental level, students know which RLC they are in. As shown above, students identified with their dorms more, but when prompted, they were all able to identify their respective RLCs.
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Briefly describe the theme of your Residential Learning Community (RLC).
Central to all of the RLCs is a unique theme that differentiates them from the others. We wanted to test whether respondents were able to explain this theme in their own words, and found that students had one of two responses:
1. Concise answers that demonstrate understanding of the theme.
52 responses fell into the first category. Some examples:
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2. Simple answers that reveal lack of basic understanding/inaccuracy.
45 responses fell into this category. Some examples:
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From this data, we derived that although around 1/2 of first-year students are able to describe their RLC's theme, a significant portion of them are not. These themes are central to the RLCs and provide direction for linked events and classes, and our data shows that there is a lack of impact and understanding of these themes. Given that 95% of first-year students reside in RLCs, and the remaining 5% commuter students are randomly assigned to RLCs anyways, our data shows that there is a troubling number of students who lack basic knowledge of SCU's themes, which are crucial to our system.
Why did you choose your residence hall? Select all that apply.Because the RLCs at SCU all have their own distinctive qualities, traditions and themes, we wanted to understand how students were choosing their RLCs. As will be demonstrated later on, students have a difficult time differentiating between dorms and RLCs, and therefore, we had to use the ambiguous term "reputation" to represent social/RLC reputation. With that said, reputation and physical attributes (Room/Amenities/ Building) of the RLCs were cited as the primary factors, while the RLC theme was secondary. The RLC system's presence begins during the selection process for incoming first-
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years as they look through the themes/values for different RLCs. From this data, we can see that RLC-related themes are a relatively small factor in the decision behind residence hall attributes. Additionally, although reputation was cited as the primary factor in first-year decision, the lack of RLC understanding as demonstrated in the previous question suggests that students were not viewing reputation in relation to RLC themes/traditions.
Estimate the number of RLC-sponsored activities you have participated in.
Activities coordinated by RLC directors, Community Facilitators (CF) and faculty directors are the primary means of engaging RLC residents. These include social events, such as game nights, movie watchings and day hikes, as well as RLC-theme related events. For example, in the Unity RLC, these events are community discussions on diversity issues, explorations of foreign cuisines and celebrations of cultural dances. 92% students had attended at least 1 event, and 50% of students had attended 4 or more. From this data, we can see that the events play a large role because at some point, every student experiences at least one.
Have you taken an RLC-linked class? If so, what course was it?RLC-linked classes are filled with students that live in the same RLC and therefore, they are an integral part of the program. They are most often offered in the form of introductory CTW/C&I courses for freshman living in the same RLC. Our data showed that 43% of students stated that they had not taken an RLC-linked course, and a further 15% were unaware whether they had or not. However, given that CTW/C&I courses are mandatory for all first-years, we gathered that the majority of students who responded "No" to the first question might have taken RLC-linked classes without knowing. Similar to the "I don't know" respondents, they were unaware of this fact due to a lack of emphasis on the part of teachers/faculty, and this reveals that the RLC aspect of these courses are severely underemphasized. Given that many of our respondents were honors students who do not take RLC-linked classes, the "No" segment does not reflect the general first-year population at Santa Clara University.
Additionally, the students that responded "Other" in the second part of the question all wrote that they had taken the same religion class. Particular to this class, however, was the fact that the instructor was a faculty director that lived in the same RLC as these students, and this professor's strong reputation for building community had led students to take her course. This suggests that faculty directors can have an effect beyond simply living amongst students if they are able to teach an RLC-linked class. |
What is the difference between an RLC and a dorm?
Here, we wanted to get an idea if students were able to succinctly describe in their own words the difference between a Residential Learning Community and a traditional dorm. As mentioned above in our introduction, part of the motivation behind our project was that we noticed that RLCs were treated similarly to un-themed dorms. With that in mind, we were testing to see whether students knew the purpose of the RLC system at SCU. Surprisingly, there were very few outliers and the responses seemed to fall into one of two main categories, with a sub-category:
1. Answers that reveal lack of information OR belief that there is no difference between RLCs and dorms.
22 Responses fell into this category. Some Examples:
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2. a. Answers that reveal that RLCs are different in that they are communities rather than just "places to live".
70 Responses fell into this category. Some Examples:
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2. b. Answers that reveal that RLCs are different in that they are communities rather than just "places to live" AND/OR foster learning through the integration of academics and housing.
(The majority of these responses are counted in the 70 responses above, which accounts for the response amount above 98)
10 responses fell into this sub-category. Some Examples:
This data shows that while a significant majority of first-year students were aware of how RLCs and dorms differed on the rudimentary level of "building" vs "community", only a few of them were able to take that next step in identifying the academic aspect of the RLCs. From this, we can make the assumption that the RLC program's role is acknowledged to a certain extent, but the overarching goal of integrating learning and housing is not grasped by the majority of students.
(The majority of these responses are counted in the 70 responses above, which accounts for the response amount above 98)
10 responses fell into this sub-category. Some Examples:
- "An RLC is a residential learning community. It is aimed at fostering community and providing lessons within our living spaces. A residence hall is just a place to live. It may foster community, but does not actively promote learning."
- "An RLC is learning focused and wants to foster an academic environment while a residence hall is just a place to live."
- "RLC ties in academics and builds community. Residence Halls are just a place to live."
This data shows that while a significant majority of first-year students were aware of how RLCs and dorms differed on the rudimentary level of "building" vs "community", only a few of them were able to take that next step in identifying the academic aspect of the RLCs. From this, we can make the assumption that the RLC program's role is acknowledged to a certain extent, but the overarching goal of integrating learning and housing is not grasped by the majority of students.
Discussion
These questions throughout our survey were meant to test students' awareness of the RLC system at SCU. From our data, we saw that although students were able to answer the simpler questions on the system, they struggled to identify the specific attributes such as the RLC themes and the purported integration of academics/housing. The majority of first-year students understand that the RLCs are meant to foster community through events/activities, but a significant number of them cannot even describe their RLC's theme. In keeping with this, many students who were enrolled in mandatory RLC-linked classes were unaware of their courses' RLC aspects. With this in mind, the RLC system seems to be present in the sense that students know its basic provisions/aims, but are less aware of the opportunities that it offers and the overarching themes that make each RLC unique.