Spring Break
An educational approach to alcohol
Matt Wills/Staff Reporter
Issue date: 7/10/08 Section: News
A stereotype for some, but for many, alcohol abuse in college is a problem across the country. Eastern is one of many colleges across the country to implement a web based program designed to increase practical knowledge and motivate students to change behavior, in regards to alcohol and the decisions you make.
The program, AlcoholEdu, by Outside the Classroom, has made its impact across the country with positive results that are seen within the first year of its implementation at a school. All incoming freshman and transfer students require completion of the program at Eastern.
"Since the 2006-2007 academic years, EIU has required incoming freshman
students to take AlcoholEdu," said Rachel Fisher, the health communication and marketing specialist at Eastern. "After the first year, participants said they knew far more about alcohol's effects than before, and staff reported far fewer and less severe alcohol-related incidents."
AlcoholEdu takes approximately two hours to complete and it is a two-part course. All new incoming students are required to complete part one before the first day of class, but it is recommended to finish it before Aug. 21 to avoid a hold on the student's account.
On August 1, students will receive an e-mail to their student account with directions on how to login to the AlcoholEdu program. More information can also be found at www.eiu.edu/~alcoholedu, said Erica Roa, alcohol and tobacco education coordinator.
"At the completion of Part I, the student is required to complete a knowledge test," Fisher said. "A score of 70 percent or higher is required to pass part one. Should students not pass, they will be required to complete a retake course."
Sophomore business management major Rob Boldig said that he sees the value in AlcoholEdu.
"It prepares you to not do anything stupid," Boldig said. "I knew that alcohol had different percentage but it helped me make better decisions about what not to do."
AlcoholEdu was brought to Eastern by Dan Nadler, vice president for Student Affairs.
"I wanted to see improvements in our students' knowledge about the impacts of alcohol," Nadler said. "I also wanted significant reductions in negative consequences associated with excessive consumption."
AlcoholEdu allows Eastern to reach out in an innovative way to address the issue of high-risk alcohol consumption, Nadler said.
"Our Problem Assessment Team indicated that there were fewer and less severe incidents during our opening weekend, and residence life staff in one of our predominately freshmen halls reported a reduction of approximately 50 percent in alcohol policy violations," Fisher said.
"They talked a lot about poor decision making, like sexual choices which I already knew but I guess reinforcement is always good," said Ben Levin, a freshman marketing major.
In a statistical approach, Fisher found that 72 percent of students reported that after taking AlcoholEdu they knew more about blood alcohol concentration. She said that 81 percent of students reported that they found AlcoholEdu helpful in general.
Along with statistics compiled by Fisher and the Health Education Resource Center, former Eastern education professor Andrew Wall did a study for NASPA Journal and reported, "50 percent fewer negative health, social and academic consequences related to drinking."
Those negative consequences were said to be blackouts, class absences, hangover, unprotected sex, vomiting in public, injuries and poor athletic performance.
"One sole effort does not create a healthy campus, but continuous efforts that promote risk reduction do," said Amber M. Shaverdi, Greek Health Education Coordinator at the Health Education Resource Center.
The Health Education Resource Center offers a wide range of programs to help students with just about any problem and inform them of future problems that could occur.
National influence
Erika Tower, director of communications and marketing for Outside the Classroom said AlcoholEdu is used by more than 500 college campuses and has been taken by more than 1.3 million college students. The course would have been taken by almost 25 percent of all freshmen throughout the country in the 2007-2008 academic year.
The outstanding results and practice of AlcoholEdu at Eastern has landed them in the top 10 schools and organizations in the country that use the program. The university received the Prevention Excellence Award from Outside the Classroom.
Another school listed with Eastern is the University of Iowa. The program was implemented in 2006, along with Eastern, in order to combat the drinking problems associated with college.
"AlcoholEdu has been successful at the University of Iowa," said Angela Reams, the director for student services campus and community relations at the University of Iowa. "Student compliance is high and the assistance from departments across campus in motivating students is instrumental in our success rate. Residence Assistants in our residence halls meet with students and motivate students to complete the course on time. Instructors in our freshmen transition course also discuss AlcoholEdu."
In the past two years, Reams and Iowa compared students who had taken AlcoholEdu to those who had not and found an array of positive results: A reduction in hangovers, reduction in blackouts, an increase in the number of students who abstain from use even after being in our environment during the college effect period, continued compliance of 98 percent by the deadlines and all freshman students completing the course by registration and a reduction in the number of students who do shots, pre-game, and play drinking games.
Eastern staff members have also reported fewer and less severe alcohol related instances since the course began.
"Alcohol is a key health issue on all college campuses," Roa said. "Part of creating a healthy community is providing campus-wide approaches to health and using tools such as AlcoholEdu for college."
The online program AlcoholEdu is no perfect solution to the problems that colleges associate to drinking but the program does provide a factor for education to those who have not yet lived the college experience.
"We have successfully reached two entering freshman classes through the use of AlcoholEdu," Nadler said. "I can tell you we are very pleased with the results of AlcoholEdu."
City Reporter Ashlei Maltman contributed to this article.
Matt Wills can be reached at 581-7942 or at deneic@gmail.com.
The program, AlcoholEdu, by Outside the Classroom, has made its impact across the country with positive results that are seen within the first year of its implementation at a school. All incoming freshman and transfer students require completion of the program at Eastern.
"Since the 2006-2007 academic years, EIU has required incoming freshman
students to take AlcoholEdu," said Rachel Fisher, the health communication and marketing specialist at Eastern. "After the first year, participants said they knew far more about alcohol's effects than before, and staff reported far fewer and less severe alcohol-related incidents."
AlcoholEdu takes approximately two hours to complete and it is a two-part course. All new incoming students are required to complete part one before the first day of class, but it is recommended to finish it before Aug. 21 to avoid a hold on the student's account.
On August 1, students will receive an e-mail to their student account with directions on how to login to the AlcoholEdu program. More information can also be found at www.eiu.edu/~alcoholedu, said Erica Roa, alcohol and tobacco education coordinator.
"At the completion of Part I, the student is required to complete a knowledge test," Fisher said. "A score of 70 percent or higher is required to pass part one. Should students not pass, they will be required to complete a retake course."
Sophomore business management major Rob Boldig said that he sees the value in AlcoholEdu.
"It prepares you to not do anything stupid," Boldig said. "I knew that alcohol had different percentage but it helped me make better decisions about what not to do."
AlcoholEdu was brought to Eastern by Dan Nadler, vice president for Student Affairs.
"I wanted to see improvements in our students' knowledge about the impacts of alcohol," Nadler said. "I also wanted significant reductions in negative consequences associated with excessive consumption."
AlcoholEdu allows Eastern to reach out in an innovative way to address the issue of high-risk alcohol consumption, Nadler said.
"Our Problem Assessment Team indicated that there were fewer and less severe incidents during our opening weekend, and residence life staff in one of our predominately freshmen halls reported a reduction of approximately 50 percent in alcohol policy violations," Fisher said.
"They talked a lot about poor decision making, like sexual choices which I already knew but I guess reinforcement is always good," said Ben Levin, a freshman marketing major.
In a statistical approach, Fisher found that 72 percent of students reported that after taking AlcoholEdu they knew more about blood alcohol concentration. She said that 81 percent of students reported that they found AlcoholEdu helpful in general.
Along with statistics compiled by Fisher and the Health Education Resource Center, former Eastern education professor Andrew Wall did a study for NASPA Journal and reported, "50 percent fewer negative health, social and academic consequences related to drinking."
Those negative consequences were said to be blackouts, class absences, hangover, unprotected sex, vomiting in public, injuries and poor athletic performance.
"One sole effort does not create a healthy campus, but continuous efforts that promote risk reduction do," said Amber M. Shaverdi, Greek Health Education Coordinator at the Health Education Resource Center.
The Health Education Resource Center offers a wide range of programs to help students with just about any problem and inform them of future problems that could occur.
National influence
Erika Tower, director of communications and marketing for Outside the Classroom said AlcoholEdu is used by more than 500 college campuses and has been taken by more than 1.3 million college students. The course would have been taken by almost 25 percent of all freshmen throughout the country in the 2007-2008 academic year.
The outstanding results and practice of AlcoholEdu at Eastern has landed them in the top 10 schools and organizations in the country that use the program. The university received the Prevention Excellence Award from Outside the Classroom.
Another school listed with Eastern is the University of Iowa. The program was implemented in 2006, along with Eastern, in order to combat the drinking problems associated with college.
"AlcoholEdu has been successful at the University of Iowa," said Angela Reams, the director for student services campus and community relations at the University of Iowa. "Student compliance is high and the assistance from departments across campus in motivating students is instrumental in our success rate. Residence Assistants in our residence halls meet with students and motivate students to complete the course on time. Instructors in our freshmen transition course also discuss AlcoholEdu."
In the past two years, Reams and Iowa compared students who had taken AlcoholEdu to those who had not and found an array of positive results: A reduction in hangovers, reduction in blackouts, an increase in the number of students who abstain from use even after being in our environment during the college effect period, continued compliance of 98 percent by the deadlines and all freshman students completing the course by registration and a reduction in the number of students who do shots, pre-game, and play drinking games.
Eastern staff members have also reported fewer and less severe alcohol related instances since the course began.
"Alcohol is a key health issue on all college campuses," Roa said. "Part of creating a healthy community is providing campus-wide approaches to health and using tools such as AlcoholEdu for college."
The online program AlcoholEdu is no perfect solution to the problems that colleges associate to drinking but the program does provide a factor for education to those who have not yet lived the college experience.
"We have successfully reached two entering freshman classes through the use of AlcoholEdu," Nadler said. "I can tell you we are very pleased with the results of AlcoholEdu."
City Reporter Ashlei Maltman contributed to this article.
Matt Wills can be reached at 581-7942 or at deneic@gmail.com.
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