Auburn University is now requiring all new students, including transfer students, to complete Alcohol Edu and Haven courses.
The Alcohol Edu and Haven courses deal with alcohol abuse prevention and sexual assault prevention, respectively. Part one of this program opened on July 20 and was due Aug. 14. Part two opens up 45 days after completing Part one.
These courses are under Auburn’s health promotion and wellness services of the division of student affairs.
Eric Smith, director of health promotion and wellness services, said he is a strong advocate of these courses.
“The power of the online thing is you can take this course … and we can get it in your hands before you actually get to campus,” Smith said.
The University has partnered with EverFi, an online education company, to build a comprehensive prevention program.
The process of implementing this program started with Auburn’s student leaders, according to Smith.
“Our SGA was a big proponent of this about three years ago, so it was really our student leaders who said they think this is something valuable that they think all students should take,” Smith said.
“Then, last year, we got the programs and we piloted them … with the UNIV courses, the first year experience program and seminar classes. We just kind of wanted to see how it went, see what came out of it, and we rolled it out that way.”
Smith said he is proud of the University for implementing these courses and is confident they will have a positive effect.
“It’s a good product together,” Smith said. “I think on the whole the program just does a really good job of kind of setting that standard and its baseline knowledge. We know everyone is at least starting out from this same place when it comes to Alcohol Edu and Haven. We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from students about how the course is run, how the content is delivered, and I think that’s really important.”
There are no statistics that indicate anything about the effectiveness of the courses.
“The program is still open, so I don’t quite have a handle on the completion and all that kind of stuff yet,” Smith said. “We get that information in February or March, and at that time we’ll be able to make a much more conclusive statement. The only real reason we’re doing this program is for students in particular and that the desire to do the program came from other students who recognized and saw a need. It’s recognized as one of the few things we can do out there to have a positive impact on individuals’ behavior.”
However, length is an area of concern, according to Smith.
“We do get a complaint here or there about the length of the program, and that it can be a little daunting,” Smith said.
Jordan Mangat, freshman in undeclared science and math, said she thinks it is an inefficient use of time.
“There are too many sections for it … and I think most people would agree with me that it’s too much time, and we already know this stuff,” Mangat said.
Christian Reagan, transfer student and sophomore in undeclared science and mathematics, said he believes the courses are important, despite how long they take to complete.
“It did feel a little redundant at times, but then again it is kind of necessary to get the point across with how serious some of these issues are, and it’s all pretty important topics, especially when you’re dealing with peoples’ lives,” Reagan said. “I think it was important to understand a lot of the things it had to say. I think that it conveyed the message that needs to be said to college students.”
Reagan said some students might not care or put much effort into the courses, but he doesn’t think that takes away from the program’s effectiveness.
“I think whether or not they cared about it, it’s still good to know, and a lot of the facts that were presented I didn’t even know,” Reagan said. “I didn’t realize a lot of the things that happened actually happened like that, so I definitely learned something from it.”
Michael Lovell, director of marketing of higher ed for EverFi, said these courses are designed to get students thinking about important issues.
“We are asking questions, because they could help guide prevention strategies,” Lovell said. “There’s a lot of rationale and reasoning behind why the questions are the way that they are and why the scenario and courses are the way that they are.”
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