OATdb Archive - Sam Houston State University

OATdb Archive

2012 - 2013

Student Legal & Mediation Services

Goal

Promoting Critical Thinking And Lifelong Learning Skills Through Legal Consultations.

Consultation with SLS should result in students having a greater understanding of their options for moving towards resolution of their legal concern.

Objective

Identification Of Change Of Student Understanding Of The Law And Options For Potential Resolution Of Legal Issue.

Student Legal Services (SLS) should create a safe place where students are comfortable in confiding confidential legal concerns and gain an understanding of the law, legal system and potential outcomes from actions they may take in regard to legal concerns.

Indicator

Student Surveys Will Show Increase Of Understanding Of The Law As Measured On The LIKERT Scale

Students coming in for an initial consultation on a legal issue will be surveyed prior to each consultation with one question:

             I know which law applies to my situation and my options to resolve my legal concerns.

Students will also be surveyed at the conclusion of each consultation with one question:

            After my legal consultation, I know which law applies to my situation and my options to resolve my legal concerns.

The answer options for both questions are scale of 1-5 (LIKERT Scale); 1 being strongly disagree and 5 being strongly agree.

Criterion

90% Of Student Surveys Will Show Increase Of Understanding Of Two Or More Digits On The LIKERT Scale.

A post-consultation increase in confidence of the steps to be taken in a legal situation is indicative of engagement and use of critical thinking skills. A change in scores toward strongly agree also demonstrates an expanded understanding of the law, which is a lifelong learning skill.

Finding

2012 Finding

In 2012, 77% of the students surveyed moved two or more spots on the Likert scale.

Action

Review Assessment Methodology

We will review the questions we ask, the questions we don't ask, and how we ask the questions to make sure our findings have internal consistency and we are obtaining the correct information so that our office will have accurate information.

Goal

Improving Customer Service And Student Satisfaction For Legal Consultation

To provide increased service and evalutate student satisfaction, the department will follow up with students after legal consultation to determine their continued understanding, answer additional questions, and determine needs for further consultation.

Objective

Increase Customer Service And Evaluate Students' Understanding Of Their Legal Rights And Options

Provide follow-up service check-up and evaluate whether students have understood their rights and taken action on one or more legal options.

KPI

Students Responding To Follow-Up Calls Will Affirm That They Have An Ongoing Understanding Of Legal Options.

Each student seeking initial legal consulation will receive a follow-up telephone call 1-2 weeks after appointment. When calls are unanswered, the department will leave a message expressing concern/interest in legal resolution. When calls are answered or returned, the following will be asked:

Was the information you attained in your legal consultation helpful in understanding your legal options? (yes/no)
Were you able to take the next step towards resolution of your legal issue? (yes/no/na)
Invite additional consultation if no steps have been taken.

When calls are not returned after two attempts, students will receive an email requesting answers to the questions above.

Of students receiving consultation:

95% will receive follow-up calls and if necessary an email.

75% of students will be reached by follow up efforts agree that the information attained in legal consultation was helpful in understanding legal options.

15% of students reached by telephone and will have taken the next step towards resolution of their legal issue.

Result

Understanding Legal Options

Here, we've had great success. Our office made phone calls to 100% of the students who used our services to determine if they needed follow-up. Of the students we were able to reach, 68.4% said that they information provided was helpful in resolving their legal options. This is lower than our goal, again, likely in large part due to changes in director, staff, and report back that they have understood the law and the legal process and awareness of inconsistencies in asking the assessment questions. 85.9% of the students contacted said that they have taken the next step to reaching their goal.

Action

Review Assessment Methodology

Update to previous cycle's plan for continuous improvement This year, the department had significant changes with a new director coming in April and two new student assistants joining shortly afterwards.` For the last reporting period, 77% of the students who sought legal advice moved two or more digits on the Likert scale which is short of our goal of 90%. We've undertaken a review to determine why our goal was not reached. Our conclusions are (1) the assessment question was not being asked consistently (e.g., the question was being asked differently to different students by different workers) and (2) a goal of 90% moving two Likert digits may not be reasonable. In part, the department is a victim of its own success--because of the large number of presentations we make to students, the students come into the office with a higher level of legal knowledge than they may have had in the past, making them less likely to say that they have an exteremely low level of knowledge (including the large number of students the university has in its Criminal Justice and other law-related programs who have some legal knowledge before they reach our office). Thus, an expectation of a significant change of two Likert digits may not be a realistic goal. Accordingly, we are evaluating (1) how we ask questions so that they will be asked consistently (2) what questions we're asking and (3) whether we need to be asking different questions.

Plan for continuous improvement Based upon the last year's findings, our department is undergoing a study and revision of the questions we ask and how we ask them. We've already had a meeting to root out the difficulties with the assessment questions we've asked and the need to ask them consistently. We are currently reviewing whether to ask the questions in a writing or orally (as we've been asking in the past). We believe that written questions will allow consistency and remove questioner bias, inflection, tone, and other variables that can influence a person's decision on how to answer the assessment question. We are also reviewing whether to ask the questions differently, and whether we need to ask additional questions. We are undergoing a review of how other, similar departments use assessment questions and their efficacy.