SEAHO Report - Spring 2021 - 13

FEATURE ARTICLES

Intentional Documentation for Data-Driven
Results: Using Strategy to Showcase the
Impact of Intentional Interactions
Sarah Sheldon, Florida State University, and Cate Morrison, eRezLife

Our field is consistently responding to the demand for data and the ability to " prove " our efforts are having a
positive impact on the student experience. It is no longer good enough to say we believe intentional interactions
make a difference; we need to show the impact through data. Due to the nature of intentional interactions, it
can be difficult to collect data, as we rely on student staff members to obtain and document this information.
It is important to precisely identify what information you need to report. If you start at the end and work
backwards, you will likely end up with a documentation process that is simple, efficient, and quick for staff
members to complete.
From our experience, students appreciate two things when it comes to forms: accessibility and efficiency.
Students want to be able to quickly complete their forms from any location. Whether via cellphone, tablet,
or laptop, the easier you make the form to access, the more success you will have in completion. Regarding
efficiency, it is pivotal that you only require the collection of the " need to-know " information. Consider using
your intentional interaction forms as a starting point with optional questions to inform when needed. If you
are collecting data on student wellness, the interaction may request student staff to explore wellness areas in
which students need additional support and report on that, for example. Staff may feel inclined to share details
of that conversation, or they may simply prefer to report the raw data. Providing an option to collect details
but requiring the " raw data " response will result in more users completing the form while still collecting the
qualitative information on a case-by-case basis.
There are a number of factors to examine when considering what you need to report. To begin, consider your
stakeholders as well as the type of report that you need to gather. If you are creating an infographic to showcase
what topics your staff are spending their time on, you will likely need more quantitative data. Therefore, ask
questions about specific topics or learning outcomes that relate to your student needs or learning outcomes that
have a multiple choice response. If you are writing a report for your supervisors or deans, you might need more
qualitative data to support the quantitative data you have collected. Perhaps your report guides your intentional
interactions for future months. When searching for trends in your data, a supportive mix of qualitative and
quantitative data will help you learn more about those conversations and how to support those exchanges
through ongoing development. Lastly, some institutions are using intentional interactions to showcase the
personalized time student staff spend with their students to increase budgets for their programs. If this is the
case, you may want to consider asking a question about length of time on each conversation so you can easily
pull and calculate that data in a way that makes sense for your institution.
Our student staff members are essential to the success of this process. Without their buy-in, your data will not
be complete. We need to consult with students in the development of forms to ensure the information collected
is easy to document and feels appropriate to students. This consultation needs to be continuous. Once your form
is rolled out, you should pull the staff back and analyze the functionality of the report. If staff input and buyin are missing, you will continually receive pushback from student staff members or experience apathy in your
data acquisition, potentially resulting in a misrepresented data set.
Finding ways and means to fold the interactions into tasks student staff is already performing can help
tremendously with buy-in from student staff members. When the interaction is naturally looped into the
rhythm of the semester or folded into a tool staff is comfortable using, the interaction will be easier to
achieve. Florida State University utilizes national- and campus-level students-of-concern trends to build our
educational plan. Having these trends identified helps professional staff provide the context and " why " behind
the intentional interaction lesson plan. When implementing curriculum, we fold interactions into tasks staff
are comfortable performing. For example, FSU's resident assistants are accustomed to navigating roommate
agreements. Therefore, we built an interaction into our roommate agreement process for students to discuss
resolution strategies when conflict occurs. Lastly, providing multiple methods of facilitation can help staff

SEAHO Report - Spring 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of SEAHO Report - Spring 2021