CircleIn – First term outcomes assessment
The University of Alaska Anchorage is an open access institution committed to equity in student success. As a commuter campus, we are always looking for ways to help students connect with their peers, faculty, and campus life. We also know that peer-to-peer support is a proven practice to help close achievement gaps, so we decided to invest in CircleIn to help our students support one another. We piloted CircleIn in Fall 2020 in some of our most important gateway courses -- the courses that are taken and not passed by hundreds of students each semester. At the 10-week mark we surveyed students about their use and attitudes regarding
CircleIn. Of the respondents who had used the app:
- 90% said it was easy to use
- 80% would recommend CircleIn to other UAA students
- 79% said CircleIn is a better way to connect with classmates than texting or email
- 76% said they would be likely to use CircleIn in all of their classes if it was available
- 76% agreed that CircleIn is a great platform for studying with classmates
- 63% felt more comfortable asking classmates questions on CircleIn than asking Professors
- 61% felt it helped them be more productive in their class
- 59% indicated CircleIn had a positive impact on class performance
- 55% agreed using CircleIn made them more confident about their chances of success in the class
Based on these results, UAA will be bringing the app to all courses in the Spring 2021. We are very encouraged by these preliminary results and believe CircleIn will help our students be successful -- especially during COVID.
Claudia B. Lampman, Ph.D.
Vice Provost for Student Success and Dean of the Honors College
Professor of Psychology
University of Alaska Anchorage
