Category Archives: Announcements

Heads Up: Changes Coming to MyStudentBody!

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Hopefully, you noticed that MyStudentBody has been running faster. You have? Good, because in November we upgraded MyStudentBody’s operating platform behind the scenes. But here at MyStudentBody HQ, we’ll be rolling out some changes over the next few months in addition to some of our recent upgrades. Here’s a look at the next three big steps.

Change #1

Early next month, our welcome page will get a fresh look and links to useful articles that you can share with colleagues. Check out the snazzy previews of the new welcome page and library below.

Change #2

In February, we’ll also be unveiling a new registration process that will make users’ information more secure and help with forgotten passwords. Administrators, this is important because you’ll need to revise your instructions to students. But don’t worry, we’ll provide new samples and templates online.

Change #3

Also coming in February, MyStudentBody’s wellness information (topics like stress, sexual health, nutrition, and tobacco) will be available from the Student Center page. Here’s why: administrators spoke, we listened.

Back in September, we asked administrators who use MyStudentBody to tell us how they use the program, and how we could make it more useful to them and students. Regarding the wellness information, the biggest takeaways were:

  1. MyStudentBody’s wellness components, which aren’t part of the Essentials or Student Conduct courses, are liked, but not used extensively with students.
  2. Half of administrators found the wellness areas “very valuable,” but only 35% thought they were “very popular” with students.
  3. More than 70% agreed that, “though the wellness sites seem useful, we rarely use them.”
  4. Nearly 90% agreed that those areas “would be helpful if we used (them) more.”

In an effort to provide the comprehensive student health education we’ve always promised and provide ongoing prevention support, we asked ourselves what we could do to make the wellness information more accessible to students. Clearly, it’s important to administrators. We decided to move that wellness information to the Student Center tab of MyStudentBody because then it would be more easily seen and used as a resource by students. And 82% administrators liked that idea.

So that’s exactly what we’re doing. We expect the changes to take effect in late February, and we’ll have more information about that in January. Until then, those areas will be available as they’ve always been.

For more details about the findings from our customer survey read the Executive Summary [PDF].

Announcement: Sexual violence education a top priority in risk prevention

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Contributed by Tyler Achilles, B.A.

There is more to risk prevention on college campuses than alcohol and drugs. Over the past several months, sexual violence on college campuses has increasingly become a hot-button issue. The Department of Justice (DOJ) estimates that 1 in 4 women will be the victim of sexual violence at some point during their college career.

Portrait of young woman resting on arm

Recently the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania took one of the most aggressive steps to date in combating sexual violence on college campuses, enacting a bill that requires all higher education institutions to provide sexual violence awareness education to first-year students. According to the bill, colleges and universities must offer a program that encompasses – among other topics – discussions of consent, information on protective resources and the role of alcohol and drugs in sexual violence.

Additionally, the DOJ awards several $300,000 grants each year to institutions of higher education to create programs that address this growing problem on college campuses.

We can help you effectively address this statewide mandate, secure a DOJ grant, or broaden your sexual violence programming with MyStudentBody-Sexual Violence. We developed MyStudentBody-Sexual Violence to educate college students about these issues and to support a more comprehensive approach to risk prevention. While most prevention programs concentrate solely on the role alcohol plays in sexual violence, MyStudentBody also considers the effects of drugs and requires students to explore other situations that don’t necessarily involve substance use. With the Rate Myself tool, students can test their decision-making skills and examine how they would respond in a variety of scenarios.

Within the sexual violence component and the MyStudentBody Student Center, students have access to information that provides bystander intervention strategies for identifying and reporting an act of violence, as well as resources for seeking help for a friend in trouble.

Implementing MyStudentBody-Sexual Violence is quick and easy. For more information about MyStudentBody-Sexual Violence and how it can be a part of your school’s prevention programs, contact Holly Lyng at hlyng@mystudentbody.com for a demo.

Announcement: Students learn how to take responsibility and increase awareness through MyStudentBody Student Conduct Course

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Contributed by Tyler Achilles, B.A.

Sometimes students don’t make the best decisions. Hey, we’re all human, right? Unfortunately, students still need to face the consequences of their actions if they violate certain campus policies, especially those involving alcohol and drugs. No, we can’t just let this one slide, Johnny. How else are you going to learn something from your experiences?

MyStudentBody Judicial Course modules

MyStudentBody Student Conduct course modules

To that end, MyStudentBody has officially launched the new MyStudentBody Student Conduct Course. Specifically designed for students who violate an institution’s alcohol policy, students will examine the themes of self-awareness, learning from their mistakes, and taking responsibility in this course. We’re confident it will help students realize and learn from their mistakes without making it feel punitive (can we get out of timeout now?). Here’s what you need to know:

For existing MyStudentBody administrators

The MyStudentBody Student Conduct Course will automatically show up on your student site’s MyStuff page. Students can take the course by clicking “Take Now” under the Student Conduct Course heading. As a campus administrator, you can easily customize the passing score, number of attempts, and follow-up assessment settings in MyStudentBody Admin, or disable this course by contacting Implementation Specialist Amy Cavender.

With this release, we’ve also added two other features including, Drinking Profile and Rate Myself data prior to 12/15/10, and a parent guide in an email-friendly, easy-to-share format. For more information or to check them out for yourself, log in with your account.

To student affairs professionals that currently do not use MyStudentBody

If you’re struggling to find the right balance between sanction, intervention, and education, try out the MyStudentBody Student Conduct Course with a guest pass. You’ll be able to preview the course and decide if it’s right for your students. This course can be purchased separately from the rest of the MyStudentBody comprehensive program.

For more information on the MyStudentBody Student Conduct Course, contact us at (800) 848-3895 x3. Current customers can call (800) 848-3895 x205.

Announcement: Fashion Institute of Technology uses MyStudentBody to support “dry campus” policy

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Contributed by Donna Wentworth

Located on Seventh Avenue in the heart of New York City, the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is a leading-edge fashion institute that aims to prepare students for professional excellence in design, fashion, and business through an educational experience that fosters “creativity, career focus, and a global perspective.”

Recognizing the connection between students’ health and academic performance, FIT has adopted a strong drug and alcohol abuse prevention policy. As part of the policy, the Institute has chosen to make its campus in downtown Manhattan a “dry campus.”

Fashion Institute of Technology

The Challenge

Of the 11,000 full- and part-time students enrolled at FIT, approximately 2,300 live on campus. FIT works to educate every student about the risks of alcohol and drug abuse, and requires those living on campus to agree to the dry campus policy and complete an alcohol education course. “That includes first-year students, summer students, and any returning upperclassmen who want to live on campus,” says Gabrielle Arthurton-Crumb, Assistant Director of Judicial Affairs at FIT.

In addition to the challenge of reaching every student with consistent health education, FIT strives to deliver information in a way that makes sense to students. “In the 21st century, communication is technology-based, and young adults are used to instant responses,” explains Arthurton-Crumb.

While it may be quick and easy for students to find health information on the Internet, not all of the information is trustworthy. To protect students, FIT works to provide them with easy access to accurate health information, including information about emerging health risks, such as misuse or abuse of prescription stimulants and painkillers.

The Solution

After investigating several online prevention programs, FIT chose to implement MyStudentBody. The program integrates student courses on drugs and alcohol, a 24/7 online student wellness resource, a parent-based intervention, and a set of specially developed tools and resources for campus health administrators. Every school that subscribes to MyStudentBody has access to each component of the program at no extra charge.

According to Arthurton-Crumb, FIT chose MyStudentBody because it is “user-friendly.” Through brief motivational self-assessments in six topic areas, the program helps FIT deliver comprehensive health education that is tailored to individual students.

“MyStudentBody allows us to provide students with essential health information that is both accurate and presented in an interesting way. They can get answers to questions they might not otherwise ask, for various reasons – they’re embarrassed, they think they should already know the answer, etc. The program also allows them to ‘personalize’ the website to reflect their interests and needs,” she explains.

In addition, says Arthurton-Crumb, MyStudentBody offers student courses on both alcohol and drugs, and FIT makes use of both courses.

“With the launch of the Essentials Course, we have the opportunity not only to offer freshmen information on alcohol and drugs, but also to offer our upperclassmen a different but equally valuable experience,” she explains. “The drugs module helps us to address not only the use of illegal drugs such as marijuana, but also the increased use of prescription drugs on college campuses.”

FIT administrators are able to monitor students’ progress in the course online and to access aggregate, anonymous data on students’ self-reported behaviors. These data allow administrators to identify the unique health challenges on their campus, and to track changes in behavior over time.

“The system is easy to use, and the reports allow for accurate tracking,” observes Arthurton-Crumb.

Finally, says Arthurton-Crumb, FIT administrators have found that MyStudentBody’s staff is responsive and strives to meet FIT’s evolving needs.

“There is a strong customer service, for both our students and staff,” she says. “The MyStudentBody staff is open and receptive to our suggestions and requests for features that we’d like to see so that the program reaches its full potential. And the website is always improving.”

For more information on how MyStudentBody can help your college reach its alcohol, drug, and sexual violence prevention goals, click here.

Announcement: Measure student behavior over time with the MyStudentBody follow-up assessment

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Contributed by Tyler Achilles, B.A.

Administrator looking at data showing trends in student behaviorNew research suggests that problem drinking among college students is not a phase or one-time deal. Yet many colleges and universities don’t have a method of monitoring outcomes in the weeks and months following an alcohol education program that usually takes place during orientation or the first few weeks of the semester. If colleges aren’t monitoring these outcomes, then they are missing out on detecting prevailing trends in student behavior. Implementing a method for measuring student behavior over time will also help evaluate the alcohol and drug education program the colleges may have in place, for example, MyStudentBody.

One way to observe changes in drinking or drug use on your campus is to implement the follow-up assessment – an easy to use feature built into all MyStudentBody courses. If your college currently uses MyStudentBody, you know all students must complete the Rate Myself assessment in order to successfully pass the MyStudentBody Essentials Course (Alcohol, Drugs, and, if applicable, Sexual Violence). The follow-up assessment feature gives you the option to require that students retake that assessment after a designated period of time (30, 60, or 90 days following their completion of the Essentials Course).

The follow-up assessments can be a powerful data-gathering tool. Using the data you receive can help you answer questions such as:

  • Are students using more protective factors than they were before?
  • How did the patterns of drinking or non-medical use of prescription medications change?
  • Are students more likely to get consent or to report sexual violence?
  • Have students gained familiarity with campus alcohol and drug policies?

Remember, the more students who complete the follow-up assessments, the more accurate the results. So make sure that your college is setting the expectation that students have not completed the MyStudentBody program until they’ve completed the follow-up assessment. It’s also a good idea to send out email reminders to students about the process.

MyStudentBody course settings

So how does it work?

It’s easy! At the selected interval (30, 60, or 90 days after completing the course) we send an email to the student instructing them to log in to MyStudentBody and select the Follow-Up Assessment option on the My Stuff page. Once they have completed the follow-up assessment, the status will change from “Take Now” to “Completed.” Administrators can verify successful completion using the Course Completion report by logging in to MyStudentBody-Admin. You may also modify your follow-up assessment settings in MyStudentBody-Admin by clicking “Customize” from the home page and then going to “Course Settings” in the sidebar. The default setting is to send out the follow-up assessment email 90 days after completion of the Essentials Course.

For more information about implementing a follow-up assessment or about tracking student behavior over time, contact Amy Cavender, implementation specialist, at acavender@mystudentbody.com or (800) 848-3895 x205.

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What other outcome monitoring systems do you use? Do you use something “home grown” or do you purchase a separate data-gathering program? Write a comment in the section below. Click here for more Announcements from MyStudentBody.