ALCOHOL AND COLLEGE LIFE
Alcohol and College Life (ACL) gives insight into the rewards and pressures of the college experience, particularly around friendships, parties, and drinking. These experiences can be overwhelming—new ideas, new cultures, new people, new responsibilities, and new choices. ACL provides the lowdown on college life: not just the facts, but real stories from real students. In fact, students helped create the content of the course, using a “teach not preach” approach.
The Need for Alcohol and College Life
From a student perspective, our ACL course provides students with factual information about how alcohol and other drugs affect college life. The course highlights stories and information pertinent to all students, regardless of whether or not they choose to drink. It supports students who do not drink, reinforces safety skills among students who do drink, and provides referral to campus services when necessary. It emphasizes personal prevention strategies and responsible decision-making. It presents students with tips about how to navigate college life and be successful, including time management, getting involved on campus, meeting new people, and more. Students are encouraged to think about how the course topics apply to their own lives.
Why Alcohol and College Life Works
The one-credit online course engages students and provides them with individual feedback on their knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. The ACL course is different from other existing online college alcohol prevention efforts because it focuses on alcohol and drug issues as social and cultural issues. We believe a long-term, comprehensive approach is necessary to impact student behavior.
This results in a course that provides:
Course Description
The Alcohol and College Life course was developed to address some of the issues many students face in college and reinforce personal prevention strategies to maximize student and campus safety. The course provides college students with factual information about how alcohol and other drugs affect college life. It highlights stories and information pertinent to all students, regardless of whether or not they choose to drink. Students are encouraged to think about how the lessons apply to their own experiences.
Course Objectives
Students will be able to:
Course Impact
Post course survey data from the 2012 spring semester confirms the positive impact Alcohol and College Life has on students:
Student responses also showed an increased use of harm-reduction techniques if/when they drank over the four month delivery of the course. When asked if the following risk-reduction strategies would be considered as a result of the course, students agreed or strongly agreed that they were more likely to:
“I loved the course. It presented everything in a very realistic way. They really focused on every point of view, not just the one that is against drug use. I feel like I have a thorough understanding of alcohol and drugs since taking this course.”
“I believe this course helped me with my drinking habits and saved me and my college education.”
“As a result of this course, I have minimized my drinking and become more careful when I am drinking. I have become more aware of the effects of drugs and alcohol and learned to be safer while under the influence. Also, I have learned that having a social life does not mean alcohol has to be involved.”
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