Student Media wins Third Excellence in Assessment Award

NC State Student Media was one of 12 departments to earn the Division of Academic and Student Affairs’ Excellence in Assessment award. Now in its fourth year, the award is given to DASA units that demonstrate best practices in their annual assessment reports. To be considered, a unit must receive an “exemplary” score in at least 85% of dimensions on a common rubric.

Student Media measured the outcome that student staff will set SMART goals to implement personal or organizational improvement. A SMART goal is one that is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-based. The department sent 19 students to one of three national student media conventions in fall 2023, tasking each student with reporting an initial SMART goal by the end of the semester and providing a progress report at the end of the academic year.

The average score among all participants was 3.37 to meet the original expectation that, using a four-point rubric, students would score an average of 3 (meets expectations) on the five SMART tenants. Fifteen students had an average score of 3 or higher, with three students scoring 4 (exceeding expectations) in all five categories. Three students averaged a score of less than 3, with two approaching expectations and one not meeting expectations.

Students scored highest in the relevant element of the SMART goal, with all but one student scoring at least 3 – meets expectations on this element. This highlights a strength that nearly all students understood how their personal or organizational goals fit within the mission of NC State Student Media. For example, one student presented this SMART goal:

“Our goal is to have a significant increase in viewership and interaction on our digital platforms (Instagram, Twitter and our website) by the end of the 2024 spring semester… Our main reason for wanting to increase our digital presence is to direct people who may not regularly read our printed issues to our online versions and to have Nubian still producing content in between our releases. This directly ties to Student Media’s mission of informing and entertaining the NC State University community by helping to establish value beyond the newspaper’s printed product.”

Another strength was in the specific element of SMART goal setting. All but three students failed to score 3 (meets expectations) in this category. These are also the three students with an average score of below 3. This demonstrated that students could clearly identify areas of improvement, either for themselves or the media outlet. This is important because the majority of planning and goal setting takes place in the summer. Once the fall semester starts the media outlets are in full production mode, which often means long-range planning is shelved in favor of meeting shorter-term publication deadlines.

While the outcome focused on setting goals, rather than taking steps to achieve them, students reported progress at the end of the spring semester. This was incredibly valuable and highlighted some strengths and weaknesses across the department as well. A student at WKNC identified difficulty with keeping track of music releases not from major record labels. Using a SMART goal, the student was able to develop additional training for all music directors to standardize finding and adding music from independent artists.

Another student identified marketing of the Agromeck yearbook as an area for improvement with a SMART goal of increased Instagram followers and engagement. While the student was not able to meet their goal, they pinpointed the reason for slow growth was because as the final deadline loomed focus was more on book production than promotion. Hiring a promotions manager who is not also involved in book production would help alleviate this issue.

This assessment showed Student Media’s student staff were able to meet the learning outcome of setting SMART goals to implement personal or organizational improvement. More than 80% of students were to set goals with an average score of 3 – meets expectations. While not specifically measured, many students also achieved or made substantial progress toward achieving the SMART goals set. Student Media’s 2023-2024 fiscal year budget allocated $21,860 in travel funding for those 19 students to attend a national convention. While only 2% of the department’s overall budget, this assessment shows value in allocating those resources.

Other DASA departments to earn the Excellence in Assessment award were the Academic Success Center, Advising Technology, Fraternity and Sorority Life, Military and Veteran Services, Student Conduct, Naval ROTC, University Advising & Exploratory Studies, University Fellowships Office, University Housing: Facilities, University Housing: Residence Life and University Housing: Residential Learning.

Student Media’s assessment efforts are led by Associate Director Jamie Lynn Gilbert. This is the department’s third Excellence in Assessment Award in four years.