Last fall, Sigma Chi’s new Preparation for Brotherhood pledge training program launched to 40 chapters. Now, Headquarters personnel are compiling feedback from the program’s rollout to give it a few final improvements in advance of the program’s rollout to all undergraduate chapters in fall 2016.
The Preparation for Brotherhood program follows an eight-course model that combines pledge education, the Fraternity’s best pledge activities and literary exercises, and Sigma Chi’s core values in a blended learning approach. The program will feature the traditional Magister-led pledge education programming with an online learning on Sigma Chi U, the Fraternity’s new online teaching platform.
Anonymous feedback from pledges who participated in the program indicate that 63 percent of respondents felt their experience on Sigma Chi U was either excellent, very good, or good. Likewise, 70 percent said the same about the Fraternity’s Big Brother program, and the same number described their feelings in those terms when asked about the program’s overall effect.
“The [Preparation for Brotherhood program] has taught me that I don’t need to be hazed in order to learn what Sigma Chi stands for,” wrote one pledge who participated in it. “I believe that [the program] has taught me everything I have needed to know before initiation. It has challenged me to decide whether or not I wanted to learn for myself.”
A committee of volunteers and undergraduates will vet the program’s feedback to determine what changes can be implemented into the curriculum for its Beta test and beyond. The Preparation for Brotherhood Beta test is scheduled to begin at the end of January. Any feedback gathered from the Beta test will again be compiled, vetted and implemented into the curriculum, which is anticipated to be the mandated pledge program of all chapters by fall 2016.
Anyone with questions regarding the Preparation for Brotherhood program can contact Senior Director of Membership Development Jim Cogdal, BRADLEY 2003, via email.
