Common Hour survey
Utah State University students, faculty and staff now have the opportunity to voice their opinions concerning the future of Common Hour.
A survey was sent to out to the primary contact email addresses on the university’s server Thursday morning, containing questions about the attitudes surrounding the weekly one-hour break.
The survey will help the Calendar Committee capture the overall attitude surrounding Common Hour to eventually determine if maintaining the schedule, rescheduling or terminating it altogether is the best course of action.
Scott Bates, associate vice president and associate dean of the Office of Research and Graduate Studies who serves on the Calender Board, said, seeing as Common Hour has been around for about three years, it’s time to evaluate the university community’s attitude towards it.
“Results of this will go back to the Calender Committee and USUSA and so the results will be used to inform whatever happens going forward,” Bates said. “That’s the point of it.”
The complications surrounding Common Hour have been a point of discussion for the Calender Committee and the Executive Council since last spring. Doug Fiefia, USUSA president, said a concern of some members of university faculty is the scheduling of classroom space. Having an hour in the middle of the week when classes cannot be scheduled creates complications.
“I think that’s the major concern that comes from faculty and staff,” Fiefia said. “But, I also see some of the students’ side and seeing the benefits that come from it; the ability to listen to lectures and go to Common Hour speakers that USUSA brings. Also to have group meetings where everyone is able to meet at and work on group projects. And a little break from class, knowing that every week on Wednesday you have that break where you can go get lunch, you can study…So I think from a student’s perspective, those are the benefits.”
But Assistant Provost Andi McCabe said it’s difficult to assume the position of the entire university community, which is why a survey was implemented.
“That’s what we’re doing now,” she said. “We don’t really know what the climate is and what they’re feeling. You hear different things.”
The survey was created by Bates and Fiefia for simplicity and a maximum response rate. Bates, who studies survey data in his department, said a survey usually sees the most traffic within the first several hours of its launch. The Calendar Committee sent out the survey at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday and had received 1,508 responses by 12:48 p.m.
“Most surveys get a burst of responses as soon as the email gets sent, so right now we’re at 1,500 responses,” Bates said. “If you combine the undergraduate and graduate responses, we have over a thousand student responses…Most survey responses happen in the first five or six hours, so we may have 60 percent of our total responses already. But it’s a lightweight survey; it doesn’t take seven minutes to complete.”
The survey is open for two weeks, closing on Oct. 30. This is just the beginning of the information gathering process; no actions are on the table. No changes will be made to Common Hour for spring semester.
“Now we just want to make sure that the information that we get from this survey is all inclusive; that we involve all stakeholders and that we make the best choice that is best for the entire Utah State University community,” Fiefia said.
Those who did not receive the survey in their email inbox or may have deleted the message are encouraged to email lauren.skousen@usu.edu to receive an additional survey.