Campus Review Volume 28 - Issue 3 | March 2018 | Seite 15

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suggests that combining them in the same educational program
may be even more effective than offering them alone.
While traditional educational workshops have also been shown
to be effective, there are advantages of online education, which
allows institutions to provide more consistent training, to reach
a much larger audience in a short space of time (i.e. to provide
training at scale), to be offered prior to coming to campus, as
well as often being more cost-effective.
Ideally, both web-based learning and interactive workshop
experiences can be combined along with other strategies
and offered to our students to maximise impact and create a
comprehensive environment for change.
Some critics have suggested this kind of training is a ‘tick
box’ exercise offered by universities to ensure they comply with
mandates and laws, and to absolve themselves of responsibility
for assaults perpetrated by their students.
While it may be that some educational institutions are
motivated to protect their reputations and reduce liability, it is
more likely that most seek both to comply with relevant laws
and to offer training founded on extensive research, theory and
evaluation – training that goes beyond simple quizzes, which
have been shown by research to be ineffective.
Thus, while some universities may choose to use less effective
methods, the more responsible and more likely course of action
is to be in compliance and to offer science-based programming
that has been shown by research and evaluation to make
a difference.
policy & reform
It has also been argued by some that it is not appropriate for
universities to tell their students how to behave in regard to
personal intimate relationships. This notion is flawed for a number
of reasons. It is inherent to any society, group or educational
institution to have rules, norms and expectations for the behaviour
of its members. Universities already set expectations for academic
requirements (such as course requirements, prerequisites for
entrance, examination and assessment rubrics), ethical behaviour
(e.g. regarding academic dishonesty, inappropriate or insensitive
behaviour), and health practices (such as policies around
alcohol and other drug use or physical education). Requiring an
educational course to be completed (online or otherwise) prior
to starting classes or after arriving on campus is no different
and can be viewed as a ‘prerequisite’ just as certain courses are
prerequisites for others.
In addition, university students have told us they want to learn
what these courses teach, and in response to such education
have provided evaluations for both online and in-person
education that are strongly positive. Thus, from a consumer point
of view, one can say that universities are simply meeting a request
from their ‘customers’ – i.e. their students.
In the end, our goal should be to make sure all our students, if
they choose to be sexually active, have consensual experiences
that are wanted and have the opportunity as good citizens to learn
how to step in as engaged bystanders and take action when they
see situations involving others where this may not be the case.
There is robust and extensive scientific literature which
suggests that promoting healthy norms (Berkowitz, 2010) and
teaching effective bystander intervention training are best
practices supported by science, with studies numbering in the
hundreds. The research has documented that such training –
including online courses – is effective in increasing both the
desire to intervene and actual intervention behaviour.
For instance, Jouriles et al (2018) in a recent meta-analysis of
bystander intervention research concluded that: “Students who
participated in a bystander program, compared to those who had
not, had more pro-social attitudes/beliefs about sexual violence and
intervening to prevent it, and engaged in more bystander behaviour.”
Bystander intervention can range from addressing situations
in which there are mutual misunderstandings or ‘regretted sex’
(i.e. when an individual chooses to be sexual with someone
but regrets it later), to situations in which one person is clearly
taken advantage of by another. While these situations may vary
in terms of severity and exist on a continuum, it is reasonable to
suggest that we should want all our students to have desired and
unregretted sexual experiences when they choose to have them,
which is precisely the purpose of such courses.
Scientific research guides public policy in significant and
extensive ways, influencing all aspects of our lives. It would seem
reasonable then that such research would also be relied on when
our institutions of higher education seek to help their students
avoid emotionally traumatising and academically inhibiting
sexual experiences that are unwanted and harmful to themselves
and others.  ■
Dr Alan Berkowitz is a widely published scholar on the topic
of sexual violence prevention. He has served as an expert
consultant for five different online sexual assault prevention
courses, including Epigeum’s Consent Matters.
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