8.7.1 Motivation

Outreach is an important concern for the administrators of ERCs, and was indicated by most SLCs as integral to their mission. However, active participation in outreach also fulfills other important SLC missions such as broadening the student experience, facilitating recruitment, and providing leadership opportunities.

8.7.2 Summary of Survey Results

The SLCs reported involvement in many outreach activities. The responsibility for planning these activities generally falls to the center administration in the person of the education director or coordinator. However, some SLCs have outreach committees or student coordinators. Participation by students in outreach activities includes consulting on planning, preparation, and manpower. Some SLCs sponsor a specific outreach activity, such as a LEGO robot competition for high school students. Generally, no extraordinary encouragement is required to get center student involvement, although one school provides T-shirts and another provides free food.

Outreach activities are varied, mostly related to recruitment:

• Tours and lab visits
• Primary and secondary school visits
• Tech Day/Engineering Fair & on campus recruitment
  

Other activities include:

• Primary School Science Clubs
• Judging Local Science Fairs
• Museum Projects
• "Science is Fun" on-site classes to primary/secondary school students
• LEGO robot competition.
  

8.7.3 Multi-University Centers

It was noted that some schools have problems coordinating outreach activities across the center when more than one university is involved.

8.7.4 Best Practices and Conclusions

Despite the responsibility for outreach activities falling primarily with the center administration, it is important that the SLC take an active role in outreach, as the center's student body is critical in supporting those activities. Outreach activities can be sold to the center's student body as both broadening their educational experience and as a social activity. However, students' first priority is their studies and, therefore, outreach activities must be well managed to prevent excessive demands on their time.

Beware of lagging interest
The survey indicated that the SLCs that were least effective in outreach activities were those at the oldest centers. Those that indicated they were very effective in outreach activities were the youngest centers. While these differences may be due to differing expectations, it is also possible that student bodies at older centers experience a "been there, done that" sentiment. Avoid losing interest of the students by keeping outreach activities fresh.

Have an SLC outreach coordinator or committee
This provides a focal point for the SLC to organize outreach activities and supports the education director.

Recognize your participants

Because SLCs rely heavily on volunteerism to staff their outreach activities, it is critical to publicly recognize their involvement. Center wide e-mail "thank-you's", certificates of recognition, or banquets are several suggestions. Incentives such as t-shirts and free food may also be helpful.

Keep activities in scope and distribute the leadership roles
Many volunteer activities fail due to their sheer magnitude. Keep activities within a manageable size for the size of your student body. Distributing leadership roles for an outreach project beyond the SLC not only makes it more manageable, but also provides more opportunities to develop leadership skills.

Find effective communication channels
Volunteers do not participate in outreach activities when they are not informed about an event in a timely fashion.

Sponsor independent SLC events
One SLC sponsored its own high school outreach event independently of the center administration. This event was very popular with center students.

Encourage local schoolteacher involvement
Many outreach activities involve secondary and primary school children. The effectiveness of these programs is dependent on the support received from their schoolteachers. Encourage teachers to involve themselves in the development of these outreach activities.

Keep it local
For maximum participation in an outreach activity, keep it local to the center students. SLCs in multi-university centers should facilitate the planning of outreach activities independently at each institution.

Counterpoint - Find a central champion
Multi-university outreach activities can be successful if there is a central champion who has the time and motivation to take on the administrative complexities of organizing a multi-university event.

Collaborate with other funding sources
Some outreach activities can be expensive to initiate. Solicit seed funding from your industry partners or other sources. For example, an industry partner donated several robot LEGO kits to a "Science/Engineering Is Fun" -type outreach project. Some SLCs have solicited recognition of their organization from their university or student governments, making them eligible for student fee funding.

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