Student Learning Outcome

Students who are employed with Recreation and Sports Services will demonstrate conflict resolution skills as tested by receiving a 3/4 score on the Resolution of Conflict Measure, which asks students to describe a conflict from the workplace and how it was resolved. We expect 75% of students to receive a 3/4 score.

Background

This measure is intended to test student employee's preparation for the common interview question: "describe a conflict you've encountered at work and how you resolved the situation."

Measure

Student employees will be asked via an online survey to describe a conflict they've encountered in the workplace, then the steps they took to resolve the conflict. Written answers will be assessed by answering the following yes or no questions, with each question worth a point for a perfect score of 4. Did they Review the history of the situation? Did they Empathize with the customer? Did they determine the Circumstance of this specific conflict? Did they give Options to resolve the conflict?

Take the Conflict Resolution Measure.

Timeline

This measure is implemented at the end of each semester, asking student employees to complete the test, print the results page, and return to their supervisor.

This measure is implemented at the end of each semester. Employees can use the same conflict from a previous semester, but should strive to improve their answer (is it succint, throrough, interesting, etc.).

Culture

The Resolution of Conflict System is taught during staff training and posted at staff desks for immediate reference during a conflict. Test results are evaluated and discussed on an individual and group basis. We will be looking at differences within programs, employee levels, and length of employment.

Results

This fall 23% of student employees received a 3/3 score on the measure. The previous semester had significantly higher results of 38%, however this involved a 3/4 score on a 4-step system. The “circumstance” and “options” steps of the old system did not see as marked improvements as other steps, so we combined them into one “choices” step.

Actions

Implementation of the “REC” System has seen anecdotal improvement of conflict resolution skills, however we will continue to develop this system and its testing to better measure learning. As with the Learned through Recreation SLO, we are also expanding the use of REC System learning tools such as discussion cards for implementation in student staff meetings throughout the semester.