VPUL conducts four focus groups

The Office of the Vice Provost for University Life is going to the source to find out what it can do to improve the quality of students' lives. Last week, the department -- along with staff members from across the University -- conducted four focus group sessions. Five hundred randomly selected sophomores were invited to participate and give feedback to the administrators about their college experiences thus far. Approximately 50 responded, and participated in last week's sessions. Associate VPUL Larry Moneta ran the program. "What students say has real critical meaning," he said. "We use the groups for planning purposes -- what services we need to strengthen." According to Moneta, career counseling has improved as a result of similar focus groups conducted with seniors. And he added that Student Health Service "has reacted" to suggestions about improving accessibility and appointment scheduling. Students participating in this study held round table discussions essentially concentrating on the transition from freshman year to sophomore year. At a focus group last Tuesday night, participants were quick to point out perceived weaknesses of the University. Many complained the current freshman advising system does little to assist incoming students regarding course selection. But they had positive comments as well -- many emphasized they had finally "found their niche" at the University after an uncertain freshman year. And one participant said he was amazed when a professor visited him in the hospital last year. Even when the student was forced to withdraw from school for a semester, the professor maintained contact with him, he said. Associate Director of Career Planning and Placement Beverly Hamilton-Chandler -- who observed the focus groups -- said the content of students' remarks is taken seriously. Another observer, Penn Student Agencies Manager Ira Hillman, said the focus groups help him to better understand the student experience. "They're a good way for us to get information," he said. "We're actually hearing it right from the students' mouths. "I would encourage all students who get asked to participate to participate," Hillman added. "We are listening, and we do take the information we get from the sessions and apply it to administration." School of Social Work graduate student Alyssa Goodman, Moneta's research assistant, emphasized the importance of getting students to attend the sessions. After she receives notes from the observers, Goodman will draft an executive summary of the groups and submit it to Moneta, she added. According to Moneta, the focus groups are just one part of a series of efforts to assess the quality of the University experience -- but the other surveys do not allow for the personal interaction like the focus groups do. Moneta explained that his office performs three quantitative surveys a year designed to give a profile of University students and compare them to students at the University's peer institutions. "The combination of the quantitative surveys and the focus groups gives us a very rich profile of Penn students and how they define their experience at Penn," he said. "The focus groups are the strength -- the quantitative surveys validate the focus groups."