Date of Award
5-2001
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Communication
Abstract
Students attend colleges and unversities across the nation in the hopes of receiving an education. Campus culture not only educates students academically, but socially as well. Once area that focuses on developinng community skills is the residential department. A Resident Assistant (RA) is a student who works in the residence halls. RAs must understand four skill areas in order to be effective in their job performance: Leadership, communication, administrative, and problem solving. The questions that this thesis will address by surveying RAs are: "How do RAs perceive their roles and training?", "How can training be improved?", and "Is there a gap between what skills RAs utilize and what skills RAs learn in training?"
Two key trends can be identified from the survey data. First, vertain skills showed noteworthy differences between the amount of utilization and the amount of preparation in training. The second trend identified in the data is the overall similarity between utilization and the amount of preparation in training for skill areas.
Looking at these gaps and similarities and restructuring the training program to meet the needs of the RA staff can improve training. This would help alleviate the current gap between what skills RAs utilize and what skills RAs learn in training.
Recommended Citation
Bourdeaux, Renee J., "Am I the Leader? Resident Assistant's Assessment of Roles and Training" (2001). Theses and Dissertations. 959.
https://commons.und.edu/theses/959