The university has added an online tool to its comprehensive efforts to maintain an educated community about substance and sexual abuse.
Where departments tasked with raising awareness about drug, alcohol and sexual abuse had previously used three web-based tools to conduct business, the university, driven by the Office of the Dean of Students, has recently entered into a two-year agreement to use the National Institutes of Health service called MyStudentBody.
Students and faculty and staff members spent a year reviewing online tools and policies at other institutions and visiting booths at conferences before deciding to recommend GW sign up for the NIH tool.
“We believe that MyStudentBody is the best website for GW,” said Katie Bean, assistant director of GW’s Center for Alcohol and other Drug Education and one of the staff members who researched prospective tools.
One of the goals Ms. Bean set for the Center for Alcohol and other Drug Education in 2009 was to improve student knowledge about alcohol, drugs and violence. She also wanted to demonstrate the university’s commitment to education about abuse, so she advocated for an online course for all incoming students.
“It is a best practice in the field, and research shows that many students come into college not yet knowing simple information about blood alcohol content or how the body reacts to alcohol or drugs,” she said. “We want to ensure that everyone enters GW on the same playing field, and that the community knows that the university considers these issues to be very important.”
According to Ms. Bean, the new platform will have modules for students, parents and staff, designed to provide resources about everything from alcohol, drugs and sexual violence to nutrition, stress management and sexual health.
The Center for Alcohol and other Drug Education is using campus- and email-based advertising campaigns to alert students about online course, which will be open until Sept. 1. In November, the center will send out a “post-test,” which will help the university measure the impact of the course.