First Year Seminar for Parents: University of Minnesota



	Alcohol on Campus The University of Minnesota's online course for parents, Alcohol Use on Campus, is an online, interactive course. The course was developed in partnership between the University's Department of Family Social Science and the University Parent Program as a way to provide information, support, and education to help family members talk with their college-aged students about alcohol use and abuse. Because today's college parents are highly involved in their students' lives, and because today's college students are communicating frequently with their parents, parents offer yet another tool in efforts to combat high-risk drinking on campus. Although ultimately decisions about drinking are the students' responsibility, the more information students hear from a range of sources, the better-informed their decisions are likely to be. As designed, the course is targeted specifically for U of M parents. It includes national and campus-based statistics, tips for talking about alcohol, comments from parents and students, online discussion opportunities, and a list of resources available to students on the U of M campus. The course is set up in WebVista, the same online format used in many of our classes, in order to allow parents to understand their student's experience. It begins with a syllabus that explains the course objectives, expectations, and activities. Course Objectives To develop a realistic understanding of normative college student development. To develop skills for talking with your college student about challenging issues. To develop skills for guiding your student and not ruling your student. To develop skills for accessing resources for yourself, your family, and your student. To develop skills necessary to respond to a crisis. This course is delivered in seven lessons, giving parents: a sense of the national scene related to college drinking information on the University of Minnesota's philosophy toward and policies about alcohol up to date information and data about the alcohol scene and drinking on our campus information on why students make the decisions they do about alcohol use background on the range of parent attitudes regarding college drinking and their own social drinking, from very restrictive to permissive data on the consequences of drinking suggestions for what parents can do related to their student's alcohol choices. In addition to facts, figures, and quotes from parents and students, the course includes interactive polling to allow parents to compare their responses to questions with responses from other parents and from students. Parents also have the opportunity to participate in threaded discussions. Parents are asked to describe their perceptions of their student's alcohol use, and they can view the experiences of others through the threaded discussions. Examples of Threaded Discussions What was your student's experience with alcohol before college? "In his senior year, not long after having a run-in with the police, he was picked up for underage drinking by the police. He opted to take the class rather than forfeiting his license—though I don't think that helped. His father reported at least a couple times he was hungover before starting college." "We were lucky to have our daughter very involved in sports in high school. She knew she would be suspended if caught drinking or at a party with drinking going on. Her friends were all athletes, and spent a lot of time at our home. They all shared the same outlook on drinking." The course also asks parents to consider their own alcohol experience when they were the age their student is now. In most cases, today's college parents were able to drink legally when they were 18 or 19. That complicates their approach to discussing underage drinking with their student. On the day that you could first drink legally, did you? What was your experience that day? "On my 18th birthday, I ordered a martini straight up and drank it! Why? Because I could. But when legal age was 18, kids started way before 18." "Yes, the drinking age was 19 and I went to the bar with my college friends and my roommate ended up in jail for using a false I D. Back then, you drank free in the bar on your birthday." Return to top >> Course Evaluation The course evaluation provides feedback on the course format and content and enables us to continually improve the course. To date, the evaluation has revealed that: The median amount of time parents spent on the course was two hours Parents reported a statistically significant improvement in their understanding of all seven course content areas 75 percent of parents discussed some of the issues raised in the course with their student When asked to rate the course overall, 88 percent rated it good or excellent 81 percent said they learned new information from the course 97 percent said they would recommend the course to a friend Return to top >> Purchase this Course Based on interest from colleges and universities around the country, we are making the course available to other institutions. The course will be delivered to parents at other institutions through the University of Minnesota's WebVista delivery system. The course will be hosted on our server, but you are responsible for sending us statistics and resources relevant to your institution and determining how the course will be marketed and made available to parents of students at your institution. This involves sending us institutional logos and images, campus-specific data and resources, and institutional philosophy and policies on alcohol use. For us to host the course, we are currently charging $1,000 for an institution of 10,000 students or less, plus another $100 for each additional 5,000 students enrolled at the institution. A local campus contact must be identified for parents to call to address questions and concerns related to content and resources. We charge on a "per campus" basis. Current partners include: Hamline University North Carolina State University Georgia Institute of Technology Hibbing Community College An important factor in delivering the course to other institutions is that the University of Minnesota will manage the course evaluation. Each institution will receive reports of parent feedback based on its own parent responses, and at the University of Minnesota we will work on an overall evaluation of the course that combines parent responses from all participating institutions. Return to top >> Contact Information For more information, contact course developers: Jodi Dworkin, Ph.D. Department of Family Social Science and University of Minnesota Extension University of Minnesota 612-624-3732 jdworkin@umn.edu Marjorie Savage Parent Program Director, Office for Student Affairs, University of Minnesota University of Minnesota 612-626-9291 mbsavage@umn.edu Return to top >>