Talking Stick - March/April 2016 - 54

faced at several campuses where it may be
abundantly clear what the goal is, but the
question remains how to best make it happen.
Dahl explains that "there's certainly a personal
component to this research for the entire SILLP
team. Matt has been not only a faculty fellow in
residence but also a residence hall director and
an assessment officer. And the multiple doctoral
students on the SILLP team have worked in
living-learning programs in all types of roles,
everything from program directors to assistant
directors of entire residence life departments
to hall directors who oversee living-learning
programs to faculty fellows in residence.
So there's a lot of personal experience and
expertise here."
Living-learning programs have continued
to evolve, and Mayhew recognizes how they
have changed over the past decade. "Although
we owe much of what we know about livinglearning programs to the 2004 and 2007 NSLLP
studies, we realize students and residential
programs are not the same as they were 10
years ago. We also understand that livinglearning programs, as a popular high-impact
practice, are scrutinized for the amount of time,
effort, and expense they require to achieve the
influence we hope they have on our students.
Therefore, we decided to launch SILLP not as a
longitudinal research project, but as an in-depth
assessment tool student affairs departments
can use to evaluate their integrated living and
learning experiences and measure student
social, academic, and intellectual development."
He hopes that the SILLP assessment can provide
a useful benchmark for other institutions. "We're
hopeful that our results help practitioners
understand how their good and hard work is
positively influencing students and how they

Student Outcomes

Low

These charts highlight academic and social
outcomes.

54

Medium

might alter that good and hard work to improve
the impacts of the experience on particular
outcomes," he says. "We're really focused on
helping individual campuses assess their
own idiosyncratic programs. So, in that way,
it doesn't quite matter what else is going on.
But in another way, the more living-learning
systems there are at various campuses, the more
useful the benchmarking work we do is; now
that people know how many other schools have
programs, schools are interested in seeing what
parts of their structures are excelling and which
parts need more attention."
So what does the future hold for livinglearning programs? First, it is certain that the
assessment processes will remain entrenched in
the living-learning world. As Inkelas explains, "At
this point, I don't think there is anyone in higher
education who doesn't know that every sector
of today's colleges and universities is under
scrutiny for accountability reasons. They may
not like it and may not wish to be a part of it,
but I think we're all aware of it. Similarly, I would
find it hard to believe that there are livinglearning programs out there that don't know
they need to be doing some sort of assessment.
They may not want to, or may not know how to,
but they know they need to do it." Dahl echoes
these sentiments, saying, "Assessment and
accountability should be a regular part of all
areas in residence life and housing, but specific
to living-learning programs, it is especially
important given the heightened attention
to meet particular goals. Residence life and
housing departments invest in living-learning
programs as a unique type of experience and
promote it as such to students. We should want
to hold ourselves accountable to the standards
we set, and by doing so, we can know more

High

Campus Sense of Belonging
All LLPs
14%
62%
Traditional Residence Halls
20%
59%

Campus Civic Engagement
24%
21%

All LLPs
10%
74%
Traditional Residence Halls
14%
70%

Self-Reported Critical Thinking Disposition

Residential Environment Sense of Belonging

High-Risk Binge Drinking

All LLPs
8%
77%
Traditional Residence Halls
13%
73%

All LLPs
11%
65%
Traditional Residence Halls
17%
66%

All LLPs

TALKING STICK

15%
14%

24%
18%

80%
Traditional Residence Halls
74%

16%
16%

17%
21%
Talking Stick - March/April 2016

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