What’s the deal with MAP-Works?

Any student who lives in a campus residence hall is familiar with the “MAP-Works” survey — at the least, they have been reminded of it any number of times by their Resident Advisor. Many students ultimately participate, but without any readily apparent ramifications, many also wonder: to what end?

Lin Crowson, the assistant director of Student Housing and Residential Life, coordinates the survey and said that MAP Works is “more than just a survey.”

“It’s really a tool that helps us help students,” Crowson said. “The MAP Works survey seeks to measure a student’s perception of their overall experience and gives students an opportunity to answer questions about their holistic student experience.”

MAP-Works surveys are administered at many campuses from small and large schools to community colleges and private institutions. At UH, all first — and second — year residence hall students are invited to participate. This fall, 67 percent of students completed a MAP-Works survey.

“The Fall Transition MAP-Works survey consists of about 120 questions concerning things like students’ performance in the classroom, relationships with roommates and how their finances are affecting their grades,” Crowson said

But, Crowson said, the survey is only the first part.

“Once a student completes the survey, they have access to an interactive report that provides them with normative data (what they report in comparison to peers) regarding their responses and tips for success.  Residence hall students are connected to their Residence Life Coordinators and RAs in the system.  Once a student completes the survey the RLC will be able to help steer the student to appropriate resources on campus if they need help.”

MAP-Works surveys provide a real-time, personalized feedback in an effort to inform or remind students of resources available to them.

“MAP-Works is really our effort to widen the net under students and attempt to help them connect to resources before it may be too late,” Crowson said.

Like all surveys, MAP-Works benefits from larger sample sizes — in this case, the more students who invest the time required to complete a MAP-Works survey, the more refined the services the MAP-Works team can supply.