2008 Woodie Awards
Site offers alcohol education
Alcohol101plus.org aims for prevention of alcohol misuse on college campuses
Mike O'Keefe
Issue date: 2/15/08 Section: FUSE
Originally published: 2/14/08 at 3:57 PM EST
Last update: 2/14/08 at 3:55 PM EST
Alcohol consumption has always been a concern for college administrators who want to keep their students safe.
Many techniques have been employed in order to curb binge drinking, including psychological counseling, judicial reprimands and interactive programs that hope to educate about the dangers and risks of drinking heavily and frequently.
Alcohol101plus.org is an online "alc-ed" program that hopes to get students thinking about the consequences of drinking irresponsibly.
The program focuses on high-risk persons, particularly frats and sororities, judicial offenders, athletic group members, and freshmen coming to college.
"Most schools use it for education or policy offenders," Ralph Blackman, president and CEO of the Alcohol 101 site, said. "101 plus is designed for at-risk students."
The program was originally created in 1997 as a CD-ROM, and it was used for all college drinkers in general.
Alcohol 101 Plus is the evolution of this program - a Web based, more tightly focused and "at least visually interesting" program.
Blackman said he hopes that the online component will widen the distribution and effect of the program.
"It is very difficult to measure changes in behavior," Blackman said. "We tried to create a program that is interesting enough so that students will want to spend some time on it, and I believe it does in fact increase awareness of consequences and it does change drinking intentions."
The program has been tested all over the country and is one of the most widely distributed alcohol education programs.
It has been used anywhere from the military to college students.
Plattsburgh State seems to have its share of alcohol related incidents, but is undoubtedly comparable to other schools.
"I think we are in line with other SUNYs," PSUC Health Educator Jerimy Blowers said.
"I think any education around alcohol is great," Blowers said. "But the best you can hope for is to just get people thinking and talking about it."
Many techniques have been employed in order to curb binge drinking, including psychological counseling, judicial reprimands and interactive programs that hope to educate about the dangers and risks of drinking heavily and frequently.
Alcohol101plus.org is an online "alc-ed" program that hopes to get students thinking about the consequences of drinking irresponsibly.
The program focuses on high-risk persons, particularly frats and sororities, judicial offenders, athletic group members, and freshmen coming to college.
"Most schools use it for education or policy offenders," Ralph Blackman, president and CEO of the Alcohol 101 site, said. "101 plus is designed for at-risk students."
The program was originally created in 1997 as a CD-ROM, and it was used for all college drinkers in general.
Alcohol 101 Plus is the evolution of this program - a Web based, more tightly focused and "at least visually interesting" program.
Blackman said he hopes that the online component will widen the distribution and effect of the program.
"It is very difficult to measure changes in behavior," Blackman said. "We tried to create a program that is interesting enough so that students will want to spend some time on it, and I believe it does in fact increase awareness of consequences and it does change drinking intentions."
The program has been tested all over the country and is one of the most widely distributed alcohol education programs.
It has been used anywhere from the military to college students.
Plattsburgh State seems to have its share of alcohol related incidents, but is undoubtedly comparable to other schools.
"I think we are in line with other SUNYs," PSUC Health Educator Jerimy Blowers said.
"I think any education around alcohol is great," Blowers said. "But the best you can hope for is to just get people thinking and talking about it."
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