Engaging Incoming First-Year Students: Lessons Learned from a Sustainability Orientation Session

Engaging Incoming First-Year StudentsLessons Learned from a Sustainability Orientation Session

By Michelle Horhota, Jeanine Stratton, and Jenni Asman

AbstractOn many college and university campuses across the United States, one of the largest barriers to sus-tainability is the lack of engagement from students. Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, is currently developing a model for fostering engage-ment in sustainability among students. This article provides lessons learned from an incoming stu-dent orientation session, and shares insights on the broader nature of promoting sustainability as a mor-al imperative as well as a field of study on campuses.

IntroductionIn its most fundamental sense, sustainability involves balancing the relationships among com-plex systems—environmental, political, economic, social, and ethical. On many college and university campuses, one of the largest barriers to promoting sustainability is the lack of student involvement.1,2

How can faculty and administrators convey to undergraduate students that even small steps that are taken in their everyday lives will make a differ-ence? Is there a critical time when we need to capture students’ interest? What types of messages will most effectively gain student attention and lead to changes in their attitudes toward sustainability?

These are questions that researchers at the David E. Shi Center for Sustainability at Furman Univer-sity in Greenville, South Carolina, are addressing by using our campus as a living laboratory (www.fur-man.edu/sustain). The purpose of this article is to share how Furman University recently used exist-ing resources to reach out to incoming first-year students and raise awareness of sustainability efforts on campus. In the process, we additionally created a low-cost opportunity for several senior students to become involved in a research project. Here we pro-vide our blueprint for incorporating sustainability into a first-year student orientation session and share the lessons we learned from developing this session.

Recently a survey conducted by the Association of American Colleges and Universities found that both

students and faculty believe that encouraging civic engagement among campus members is important.3

However, that survey also found a discrepancy between faculty and administrator perceptions of the university commitment to civic engagement and student perceptions.

Currently our campus is focusing on sustain-ability as one of the core themes around which to engage students both in and outside of the class-room. Although the faculty and administration encourage sustainable actions, we have noticed that even students who report commitment to the cause sometimes fail to engage in sustainable prac-tices. For example, a recent campus survey of faculty, staff, and students found differences in recycling behaviors, with faculty and staff members report-ing higher levels of recycling than students on cam-pus.4 This finding was partially driven by the fact that students are currently unable to recycle glass on campus; however, this faculty-student differ-ence also occurred with some materials that can be conveniently recycled on campus (e.g., batteries).

We contend that students must be exposed to information about available sustainability oppor-tunities through many different channels to both raise awareness and encourage participation. Some literature suggests that the first year is critical to get-ting students involved in civic engagement.3 Thus, we argue that the earlier we can expose students to opportunities related to sustainability, the more likely it is that we will capture their attention and get them involved. On our campus, we see evidence that supports the importance of early involvement. Approximately 30% of our students become mem-bers of student groups within the first year of being on campus.5 Thus, we aim to make students aware of sustainability as an institutional priority early in the students’ first year.

In the past, our sustainability efforts did not reach every student. Students could learn about our sus-tainability efforts by taking sustainability-themed courses, seeking out the information on their own, and joining student interest groups that address sustainability concerns. During the 2009−2010 aca-demic year, we created an orientation session with Furman University, Greenville, South Carolina.

We contend that students must be

exposed to information

about available sustainability

opportunities through many different

channels to both raise awareness and encourage

participation.

26 SUSTAINABILITY MARY ANN LIEBERT, INC. • VOL. 4 NO. 1 • FEBRUARY 2011 • DOI: 10.1089/sus.2010.9720

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Research and Solutions

Angela Halfacre,

the goal of exposing all in-coming first-year students to the sustainability efforts practiced on campus within the first week of their arrival.

Creating the Orientation SessionFurman University was an early signatory institu-tion of the American College and University Presi-dents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). Our uni-versity has since formed a Sustainability Planning Council to develop the campus focus, mission, and action plan (referred to as Sustainable Furman) as a blueprint for achieving carbon neutrality and efforts of sustainability. With the support of our administration and campus student life coordinators, we were able to add a sustainability session to our incoming student orientation program at the start of the fall 2009 semester. The sustainability session was part of a daylong orientation program that also contained sessions on diversity, academic transition, and campus safety. Each session lasted one hour and incoming students were divided into four groups that rotated through each of the sessions throughout the morning and afternoon.

The goal of the sustainability session was to provide information about sustainability on Furman’s campus and to encourage student interest in becoming involved either through curricular or co-curricular opportunities. We also used this session as an opportunity to develop a student research project to be conducted with a large par-ticipant sample for little cost. Finally, we aimed to measure the session’s effectiveness for ongoing campus assessment purposes.

We enlisted the help of our Conservation Culture Research Initiative (CCRI) team of researchers as co-collaborators. The CCRI is a multi-disciplinary team of researchers interested in studying shifts in attitudes and behaviors related to sustainability, with a specific emphasis on conservation and envi-ronmental stewardship. The CCRI consists of three faculty members (psychology, business and account-ing, and political science), one post-doctoral fellow (sustainability), and two full-time student members. The CCRI focuses on how perceptions and behaviors related to sustainability may stay the same or shift over time.

To plan the session, we first determined the infor-mation that we wanted to communicate. For our purposes, that included a definition of sustainabil-ity, an introduction to the director of our Academic Center for Sustainability and the living learning labs on campus, a description of the Presidents Climate Commitment, information about the curricular and co-curricular opportunities on campus, information about the research opportunities on campus, and information about simple behaviors that students can engage in that can help foster sustainability (e.g., recycling on campus and walking or biking, rather

than driving, to class). We assigned these segments to various faculty, staff, and student presenters. We encouraged each presenter to disseminate the mate-rial as creatively as possible within the limited time constraints (Table 1).

In an attempt to keep the hour-long session engag-ing, we alternated between lectures, student- created video presentations, trivia quizzes, and activities. Furthermore, we created an informational bro-chure that was given to each student. This brochure included information about items that could be recycled on campus and where to recycle those materials, the contact information for the sustain-ability student groups on campus, and informa-tion about some of the curricular and co-curricular activities on campus. The brochure and several of the video presentations are available on our website (www.furman.edu/sustain).

Incorporating a Student Research Project We also used the sustainability session as an opportunity to create an applied research project for

The goal of the session was to expose incoming, first-year students to sustainability efforts.

Pre-session survey

“Jaywalking” video on definition of sustainability and related facts1

Introduction to Director of Academic Center for Sustainability: discussion of meaning of sustainability and role of the Center and Living Learning Labs on campus

Presidents Climate Commitment video

Recycling segment

Introduction to the Associate Director of Sustainability: discussion of sustainability-related student groups on campus

Trivia quiz on what can be recycled on campus

Transportation segment

Introduction to sustainability post-doctoral fellow: discussion of the academic and research opportunities for students

Topic

5

4

10

5

5

5

5

1

10

Duration (min)

Table 1. Sustainability Session

1“Jaywalking” is the act of students interviewing other students who are walking by. This definition was used for this survey.

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two senior students and several student volunteers. These students were involved in planning the hour-long session as well as in brainstorming ideas for the applied research project. The senior students were actively involved in developing the study’s purpose and research design and in creatively integrating the research project into the goals of the sustain-ability session. After reviewing topical literature, the research team decided to examine the impact of environmental messaging on attitudes and behaviors of incoming students.

To manipulate the environmental message, we slightly altered the message presented about recy-cling across two sessions. In the first session, the students were exposed to a message suggesting that people on campus should recycle, but not necessar-ily that they always do. This message was prescrip-tive, telling students what behavior was expected without showing students in the video consistently engaging in the behavior. In the second session, students heard a normative message (i.e., the typi-cal behavior within a given situation, or what others tend to do) about recycling on our campus. In our normative session, students learned that recycling is very prevalent on campus and that the majority of students recycle. Therefore, the messages across the two sessions differed in that the prescriptive mes-sage encouraged students to recycle but omitted the information that recycling was a typical behavior; whereas the normative message showed students engaging in the behavior and suggested that recycling is the norm.

Past studies suggest that when individuals perceive that a behavioral norm is present, they are more likely to act according to the norm. For example, research shows that participants litter more in environments that suggest a pro-littering norm and are much less likely to litter in clean environments.6

Normative messages that describe how people typi-cally behave have been shown to be more influen-tial than messages that describe what people should do.7,8 We aimed to replicate these past findings and extend this literature by examining the effectiveness of normative messages on recycling behaviors.

Two videos were created to display different messag-es to students during the sessions. In the first session, the presentation suggested that recycling is strongly encouraged by members of the Furman communi-ty, but that not all students participate in recycling programs. In the second session, the presentation suggested that recycling is strongly encouraged by the Furman community and that many students actively participate. Note that in both cases the mes-sage is a positive one; however, the individuals in the first video did not consistently recycle and all of the individuals in the second video did. The narra-tor in the first video pointed out that the individuals should have recycled and mentioned which items

could have been recycled. In the second video, all of the members of the video recycled properly. This allowed for comparison between student behavior in reaction to the prescriptive message and in reaction to the normative example.

As students exited from each orientation session, research assistants handed out brightly colored fly-ers describing the food court on campus. As an out-come measure, we collected behavioral data on how students disposed of the colored flyer. Data were collected in two ways: direct observation and waste auditing. Immediately after the flyers were handed out, volunteers were positioned near garbage and re-cycling bins to discreetly record whether the flyers were thrown away or recycled. After lunch, several student research assistants and three faculty mem-bers collected selective garbage and recycling bins around campus. Student volunteers helped us sort through these bins and code whether the flyers were recycled or thrown in trash receptacles. Four hun-dred flyers were distributed, and we retrieved 86 fly-ers one hour after distribution.

Determining the Effectiveness of the SessionAt the start of the sustainability session, we assessed the initial attitude of the students who attended the sessions. We placed a short, four-item question-naire and a pencil on each of the seats in the room. When students entered, they were encouraged to complete the surveys, which were collected before the presentation started. The first question asked students to indicate what came to mind first when they thought about sustainability. The next three questions used 5-point Likert scale responses rang-ing from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.” The questions were: (1) I believe that Furman is com-mitted to sustainability initiatives; (2) I think it is important that I act in environmentally friendly ways; and (3) I would like to learn more about how to be environmentally responsible.

In response to the question about the definition of sustainability, the most frequent answer was “environmental concerns,” the second most frequent answer was “environmental, economic and social concerns,” and the third most frequent answer was “economic concerns.” Data for the surveys are given in Table 2.

One week later, all first-year students received a three-question follow-up survey as part of a larger orientation week evaluation. This follow-up includ-ed the same three questions from the pre-test ques-tionnaire and one additional Likert scale item (a ma-jority of students on Furman’s campus use recycling bins to dispose of recyclable products, 1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree). The data for this project were collected anonymously and therefore we were

We also used the sustainability session as an opportunity to

create an applied research project

for [students].



Engaging Incoming First-year Students: Lessons Learned from a Sustainability Orientation Session.

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unable to connect the pre-session attitudes of an individual student with the same student’s post-session responses. Also, only 139 students respond-ed to the follow-up survey. Thus, we could not make strong conclusions about whether specific individu-als were influenced by our message manipulation within the orientation session.

Despite the limited response, we examined the per-centages of the responses to each question to deter-mine whether there were changes from pre-session to post-session at the group level. The orientation session did not increase post-session perceptions about Furman’s commitment to sustainability or student’s personal beliefs about the importance of acting in sustainable ways. This was likely due to the fact that responses to these questions were very high to begin with. However, the session did appear to provide some information that students were look-ing for, as there was a slight decrease in the amount of additional information they wanted after the ses-sion, with 19.4% of students strongly agreeing and 33.8% moderately agreeing to the need for more information.

We also collected behavioral data to record how students disposed of the food court flyer received at the end of the orientation session. As mentioned earlier, data were collected by both direct observa-tion and waste auditing. Of the flyers that were col-lected, 66.4% were recycled, 20.9% were thrown out, and two were found as litter. From a research

Statement

Pre-workshop (n =284)

Furman is committed to sustainability

Personal commitment to sustainability

Would like to learn more

Post-workshop (n =139)

Furman is committed to sustainability

Personal commitment to sustainability

Would like to learn more

Many students on campus recycle (included in post-survey only)

StronglyDisagree

ModeratelyDisagree

Neutral ModeratelyAgree

StronglyAgree

3.9

1.1

2.1

12.9

5.0

5.0

2.2

1.4

3.9

6.0

5.8

3.6

8.7

5.0

7.0

13.7

22.1

7.2

15.1

33.1

23.7

37.0

54.7

43.1

24.5

48.2

33.8

51.1

50.7

26.7

26.7

49.6

28.1

19.4

18.0

Table 2. Student Responses in Pre- and Post-Orientation Surveys*

perspective, there were no statistically significant differences between our experimental manip-ulations, suggesting that presenting a social norm of recycling or limited cycling did not lead to dif-ferent behavior. This finding runs counter to the existing literature and warrants further study to determine if the lack of an effect is a valid find-ing or an anomaly in our study. We did not have the same number of participants in each ses-sion, nor did every participant discard the flyer in the observed bins within the observational timeframe. Regardless of these limitations, this experience showed that using an orientation session for experimental purposes was viable.

Lessons LearnedThis first attempt at incorporating sustainabil-ity into our orientation program provides us with valuable lessons for future orientation sessions. First, we are encouraged that students felt that they learned something from the session. Sec-ond, we were able to involve students in both the creation of the session and in developing and conducting a research project that gave them valuable educational experiences at a mini-mal cost. This shows that incorporating student engagement into existing activities is a viable and effective option.

Measuring the ongoing efficacy of this initiative is critical. We believe that surveys are the most cost-

[Involving] students in both the creation of the session and ... conducting a research project gave them a valuable experience.


*Data given in percentages of total students surveyed.

effective and efficient way to measure students’ per-ceptions; however, we also recognize that they are imperfect. For example, we were only able to collect perception data from first-year students who elected to complete the first-year student orientation survey one week after the session. This gave us a return rate of 49%. Clearly, we would like to hear from a larger number of the in-coming population in the future.

We also aim to assess the value of the sustainability session over time. As part of our ongoing campus-wide assessments, we are surveying the attitudes of upperclassmen. These students did not attend a sustainability session in their orientation, so we will be able to assess whether there are differences in the participation rates in sustainability initiatives among class members who attend the sustainability orienta-tion and those who did not. It may be the case that planting the seed of sustainability during the intro-ductory week on campus leads students to become more engaged in sustainable activities throughout their college careers. We are currently monitoring interest level through inquiries at the Shi Center for Sustainability and our Sustainability Help Desk. A future goal is to work with Furman’s student life division to examine the trends of participation in sustainability-related volunteer activities.

Strengths of the ApproachOne of the top priorities at our institution is stu-dent engagement. Therefore, a first-year student orientation session is an opportunity to get students involved in every phase of the process. Students helped plan the session and brainstormed ideas on keeping the session interesting. Senior students helped design every aspect of the session. Students helped gather the information and design the take-away brochures. The students were involved in the multimedia components, from creating the scripts to filming and editing the short videos that were shown during the session. Students also were instru-mental in planning the behavioral research study, developing the assessment scales and analyzing data. Overall, the students who were involved in the project had enriching experiences that were edu-cationally beneficial. Our orientation session also greatly benefitted from the students’ perspectives and suggestions.

According to feedback, there were several elements of the orientation session that worked well. First, students appreciated the practical knowledge they received from the session. For example, incom-ing students are new to campus and are unaware of what materials can be recycled and what cannot be recycled. Therefore, first-year students report-ed that having a segment during orientation that explains what is recyclable and where to recycle certain materials is very useful. Related to the recy-cling segment, we handed out brochures that have

information about what is recyclable. This brochure also has information about people to contact for various questions and mentions several on-campus opportunities to get involved in sustainable actions. These brochures were well received by first-year students.

Feedback on the use of multimedia in the session was mixed. Many students appreciated that we did not rely solely on a lecture format; however, a small group of students reported that the switching back and forth among personnel was distracting. We are currently brainstorming ways of engaging students differently for our next first-year student orientation.

The major strength of the first-year student orien-tation approach is that we were able to capture stu-dents within the first week of arriving on campus. With respect to assessment, this approach had two major benefits. The first is that the orientation ses-sion provides us with the opportunity to collect some baseline data from these students so that we can monitor changes in behavior and perceptions over time. Our goal is to observe each incoming co-hort through their graduation date. Second, we were able to collect data about how these students feel and map it onto behavioral data to see what they actually do. Taking a multipronged approach to data collec-tion allows us to compare and contrast what students are saying with how they are actually behaving over time. It also allows us to tease apart whether students are reporting what they think is desirable or whether they are actually changing their behaviors.

Limitations To Be AddressedIn the process of analyzing the effectiveness of our first-year student orientation session, we discovered several areas that require improvement. First, atten-dance was an issue. Although attendance was man-datory, only 66% of incoming students participated. In particular, attendance waned for the afternoon sessions. In the future, we will work with members of residence life to ensure that the student residence assistants encourage all first-year students to attend.

A second suggestion for increasing attendance is to provide some sort of incentive. This tactic would require generating an incentive that is tailored to the campus’ unique demographics. Even as we brain-storm ideas to improve attendance, we are also try-ing to create ways to make the session feel a bit more personal. The information session had over 100 students scheduled to attend each session in a very large room. When fewer than 100 students showed up, they tended to sit at the back of the room rather than close to the presenters. The physical distance meant that some students were not as engaged in the presentation as they could have been.

A second issue that we encountered was that we experienced technical difficulties with our multime-

The major strength of the first-year

student orientation approach is that we were able to

capture students within the first week

of arriving on campus.



dia presentations during the earlier sessions. Some of the videos had sound or visual problems, creat-ing interruptions in the presentation. These issues impacted the overall quality of the presentation and meant that some students lost interest in some of the segments. Unfortunately, these problems may have impacted the message in a negative way.

In hindsight, we realized that although students were involved in the creation of the materials, it may have been better to have a larger number of students pre-senting the materials during the session. We had a few students speak about their personal experiences but we think that undergraduates sharing the bulk of the information in a casual way would resonate more with the incoming first-year students. For our next orientation session we are creating a sustainability walking tour of campus. We will have student lead-ers acting as guides for the sustainability tour. The guides will share information about sustainability on campus while also sharing their personal engage-ment in sustainability. This is more in keeping with our philosophy of the campus as a living laboratory. We expect that students will be more energized by seeing our campus farm and other sustainability living learning labs.

With respect to the research component of the first-year student orientation session, the interpretation of our findings was limited in a few ways. First, by embedding our research manipulation in the middle of the first-year student orientation session, it is pos-sible that our message did not come across clearly. Second, the sessions were not equally well attended and therefore our participation rates were inconsis-tent across sessions. There was large variability in the number of flyers that were distributed in the differ-ent sessions and this may have biased the behavioral data.

Despite these limitations, the lessons we have learned have been valuable. We believe capturing students in their first year is critical to our efforts of encouraging students to engage in sustainable behaviors and to adopt a sustainable ethic through-out their undergraduate career. We have attempted to capture student interest within the first week of their arrival on campus and hope to encourage others to use our format as a template for their respective schools. The lessons we have learned in creating our first-year student orientation session are provided in Table 3. Assessment is ongoing but initial findings are promising. We hope that other campuses can learn from our initial trial-and-error approach to create an engaging sustainability orien-tation session of their own.

Campuses are well-served by promoting sustain-ability as a moral imperative and should aim to engage students in sustainability behaviors in their everyday lives as well as provide opportunities to

study sustainability-related concepts throughout the curriculum.9 Incorporating sustainability into orientation sessions is one small way that college campuses can encourage students to become en-gaged in sustainability efforts. Campuses have the unique opportunity to experiment with ways to best reach students and engage them in the practice and study of sustainability. Although the methods by which each institution chooses to integrate sus-tainability into campus life are likely dependent on institutional history, structure, and the campus cul-ture we encourage additional research about how the core tenants of sustainability—ecological health, economic prosperity, and the social equity—can be infused into campus life and curriculum from ori-entation to graduation in hopes that these findings can shed light on how to best encourage a sustain-able society.

AcknowledgmentsThe authors acknowledge the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for its generous support. This research was coordinated through the David E. Shi Center for Sustainability at Furman University. We appreci-ate the collective contributions made by the faculty, staff, students, and administration across the uni-versity. We particularly appreciate the collaboration of the Division of Student Life in creating oppor-tunities for sustainability education during several venues including the first-year orientation. Many thanks to the students who helped out in conducting the research project through developing the stimuli, distributing flyers, and waste auditing. In particular, special thanks to Patrick Berg for his involvement in the creation of the videos and Phil Lewis in Facilities Services for his collaboration with the waste audit project.

1. Incorporate multimedia, student-generated experiences

2. Design interactive features, like walking tours

3. Offer take-away materials like brochures

4. Incorporate how-to instructions for important items such as recycling

5. Incorporate low-cost research projects

6. Collect data not only on perception, but actual engagement with sustainability

7. Create means to conduct follow-up with students

8. Observe participation in student groups or activities related to sustainability post- orientation

9. Foster opportunities for collaborative research across disciplines

10. Encourage attendance

Table 3. Ten Suggestions for a Successful First-Year Student Orientation Session

Campuses are well-served by promoting sustainability as a moral imperative and providing ways in which students can engage ...


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References

1. Kinsley M, and DeLeon S. Accelerating Campus Climate Initiatives. Rocky Mountain Institute, Boul-der, CO, 2009.2. Keninry J. Ecodemia: Campus Environmental Stewardship at the Turn of the 21st Century, Lessons in Smart Management from Administrators, Staff, and Students. National Wildlife Federation, 1995.3. Jaschik S. The civic engagement gap. Inside Higher Ed, September 30, 2009. Last accessed Jan-uary 28, 2010: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/09/30/civic 4. Shi Center for Sustainability. Survey of Cam-pus Sustainability Perceptions. Furman University, Greenville, SC, 2008. 5. Derrick S. Personal communication. Director of Student Activities, Furman University, Greenville, SC, January 27, 2010.6. Cialdini R, Reno R, and Kallgren C. A focus the-ory of normative conduct: recycling the concept of norms to reduce littering in public places. J Pers Soc Psychol 1990;58(6):1015-1026.

7. Cialdini R. Crafting normative messages to protect the environment. Curr Dir Psychol Sci 2003;12(4):105-109.8. Goldstein N, Cialdini R, and Griskevicius V. A room with a viewpoint: using social norms to mo-tivate environmental conservation in hotels. J Con-sum Res 2008;35(3):472-482. 9. Halfacre A, Horhota M, Byrne J, Kransteuber K, DeKnight B, Andersen B, Trombulak, S, and Jenks-Jay S. Shaping sustainability at Furman and Middle-bury: Emergent and adaptive curricular models. In L. Johnston (ed.): Taking it to the Next Level, in press.

Address correspondence to:Michelle Horhota, Ph.D. Department of PsychologyFurman University3300 Poinsett HighwayGreenville, SC 29613

Email: [email protected]



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Engaging Incoming First-Year Students: Lessons Learned from a Sustainability Orientation Session