Ok, if getting students involved was this easy we would have all of this mastered by now!  The quest to get students involved on campus seems like a project that we will never “finish,” so the thrill of the process has been where I have spent a good amount of time and thought. The process of fostering student involvement can always benefit from some examination, so let’s focus on ten things your department can do today to maximize student involvement on your campus!

1.  Understand
How much do you know about the level of involvement on your campus to date?  Citing numbers of student organizations is only one piece of the puzzle.  Drop everything you are doing and talk to your colleagues in different departments about how to best answer the question of “how involved are students on campus?”  My campus has started to better understand this question, but still struggles with the challenge of how to snap an accurate picture. 

2.  Define (broadly!)
On my campus, we have to work hard to construct a definition of “involved” that works for our campus.  If every incoming freshman believes they have to become the SGAPresident to be considered “involved,” then we have a problem. Examine what definition your campus has for “involved” and how you construct those messages for your students.  You may find gaps between what you practice and what you preach!

3.  Fascinate
Author Sally Hogshead, in her recent book of the same name, writes of “fascination triggers” that successfully persuade connection between people and other people, products or ideas.  Her work in the advertising world combined with a three year study across a variety of disciplines looks at ways to “fascinate” the public and motivate them to connect with your brand.

Do you think your current array of opportunities on campus will “fascinate” your students enough to motivate them to action?  What do you know about your students and what they are looking for?  Are there waves of interest or specialty area from different corners of your campus that you don’t think are currently plugged in? Even though these efforts should be student-driven, there’s nothing wrong with planting some seeds.  

4.  Individualize
Colleagues on my campus describe my office as both a “retail” and “wholesale” operation at the same time.  While we struggle to meet so many competing and difficult demands on our time, it’s easy to lose the need to individualize when trying to tackle the needs of the student population.  In what ways are you taking the time to get to know your individual student amidst a frenzy of competing demands?  Can you say you direct programs and services to the individual student while, at the same time, offering larger programs for the masses?

5.  Connect (and then get out of the way!)
We know that students seek campus involvement with a goal of connecting with their peers.  Keep in mind that the peer group is the point behind their motivation to get involved, so we can play a great role in connecting interested students with peers with common interests and then getting out of the way.  If the student’s entire connection with the organization is based on us as staff instead of their peers, it’s not going to last.

6.  Examine
Examine your pathways for creation of new student organizations and related policies.  If you have minimum membership numbers for student organization recognition or if your campus has a maximum number of student organizations it can tolerate, be sure that these policy determinations are made with rationale.  On our campus, we knew that a minimum number of ten members for a student group had no more relevance than a number of eight or of twelve so we spent some time discussing why these rules were in place. 

7.  Support
Student organization leaders are volunteers.  So many times we forget about this crucial fact, but it impacts the way they fulfill their responsibilities.  When times are good, they enjoy the feeling of being in a role that matches something they love and support out of a passion for the cause.  When times get tough, these volunteer roles are unfortunately sometimes cast aside.  To maximize the student’s experience, be sure there is access for all student leaders (from large and small groups!) to support networks and resources that can help them when the chips are down.

8.  Innovate
There’s nothing like getting behind something new and trendy.  Are you including students in the planning stages of your campus innovations?  Even if you could easily design the new club officers’ training yourself, include some students and get them excited about what you are planning as well. Including students in roles they perceive as administrative will just heighten their commitment to whatever you are planning.

9.  Plug-in
If you aren’t using technology to your advantage in connecting with students to foster involvement, then you are really missing the boat. (granted, you are reading this on a blog!)  Students will choose campus involvement if they can find a way to engage with the campus and for today’s student that could mean interacting through many routes that might be on-line.  Do you publicize your events via Twitter?  Do you talk about resources available through an outdated website or are you talking about the week’s lineup through a blog post that is updated every day?  Is your Facebook Fan Page a place where students can ask questions and dialogue with members of your staff?  All of this establishes a connection between that student and the institution.  It will pay off.

10.   Collaborate AND cooperate
Since this is a “10 Steps” list we’ll combine these in one but I won’t choose one or the other. I had a turn at this topic in a previous post. (go ahead, read it.  I'll wait...)

There is a difference between collaboration and cooperation and I think both approaches go a long way toward fostering student involvement.  Cooperation, in contrast to collaboration, means going along with someone else’s ideas where collaboration is more focused on generating new ideas.  I define collaboration as a project where we truly both come together with "blank slates" and develop something together.

Collaboration is a great way to foster student involvement because of the power and opportunity that comes with involving a diverse group in generating new ideas.  New connections are formed and new levels of “buy-in “ come when a project is approached collaboratively.

Cooperation can’t be overlooked as an important vehicle to foster involvement.  If you (and, in turn, representatives of your department) are seen as cooperative with others then it will inspire those people to look more closely at what you have to offer.  For example, two of my colleagues and I are participating in an upcoming student film being produced on campus.  Do we have time for this?  Not at all.  However, it’s important to us that we are seen as cooperative with other people’s efforts so that these students might think about jumping into one of our projects sometime soon.

As we are looking to the summer as a time to generate some focus and analysis on the way we do our work, I hope that all of us can spend time on new ways to foster student involvement.  It's really a thrilling chase and can mean the world to so many students!