Online SALP training boosts turnout

Student Activities and Leadership Programs, which supports student organizations and community connections at Portland State, has moved their mandatory training for leaders of student organizations online.

SALP recognizes over 120 student groups at Portland State and each group has at least three leaders.
According to Aimee Shattuck, director of SALP, the in-person trainings were not as effective as they needed to be, due to leadership turnover rates and scheduling conflicts.

The online training has eliminated these issues because the training videos, which cover topics like event and traveling requests, are available 24 hours a day through YouTube and Blackboard.

“This has been helpful, since we can now share our basic trainings with anyone across campus, and students or faculty can access them when they need them,” Shattuck said.

The in-person trainings had about 250 attendees, whereas the Blackboard course has more than 400 students registered.

Shattuck also noted that the training surveys have displayed positive results with more than 90 percent (a significantly higher percentage than in previous years) of respondents stating that the training provided them with a good overview of SALP, resources available to them and where to go to access those resources.

Students must pass with a score of 90 percent or better to be invited to join SALP’s OrgSync Admin Club.
Joining means they have access to paperwork and resources available to student groups.

Tana Atchley, a SALP advisor, said the online training is especially helpful for international students and appeals to a number of learning styles because students can read the material and watch videos as many times as they want.

“The videos were useful [and] it was nice to have different people narrate them, but it was a lot of information to retain,” said Kimberly Kleinhans, the assistant coordinator of World Dance Office.