RESPONSES TO SUGGESTIONS FROM PROGRAM EVALUATIONS

**Many participants have put specific requests for their favorite instructors to teach at times that work for their schedules.  Please understand that many of the instructors teach at multiple facilities, and some have full time careers or other commitments separate from teaching for the SDMB program. Additionally, we have received different suggestions for every single one of the SDMB teachers to be on the noon or 5 pm schedule.  Clearly, this is not possible.  Please understand that we do our best with scheduling based on the times the gym is available, the times that are most conducive for participants to attend classes, and the times that the instructors are available to teach. 

Participant Comment: 

The small gym B needs to be swept everyday. In yoga, we spend much of the time on the floor and, even though we have mats, I find the cleanliness of the floor to be an issue most of the time.
I would love a flow or all level class or two to be available early friday morning, like on the other days of the week. Also, another flow yoga class available saturday and sunday would be great, as the weekend classes always appear to be well attended.

SRC Response:

All of the Small Gyms are swept multiple times throughout the day.  Since we do not have a room exclusive to the SDMB program, we have high utilization of the gyms for SRC classes, EXW courses, and open recreation.  Therefore there may be sometimes that the floors are not kept as clean as we would like.  We will continue to sweep the gyms and try to keep the room as clean as possible for the classes. 

Our schedule each semester is based on instructor availability and gym availability.  We constantly strive to meet the needs of as many participants as possible and will look into offering early morning classes on Friday and more on the weekends. 

Participant Comment:

The program, specifically the yoga classes, were great. The room is a little bit cold. Unless the intensity is very high the room is difficult to be in without a sweater. A warmer room would be appreciated. More access to cleaning supplies for mats and other accessories would also be nice.

SRC Response:

Thank you for your compliments about the yoga classes.  We have put in a request to have the temperature in Small Gym B to be raised.  However, due to the recent developments in budgets and sustainability demands, the university has implemented a policy to keep all rooms at 65 degrees during the winter and 80 degrees during the summer to cut costs.  We will do our best to raise the temperature of the room but cannot guarantee that it will be allowed by the university. 

Our student staff circulate the gyms daily to refill cleaning supplies.  We will continue to remind them to refill the towels and solution.

Participant Comment:

As a staff member, I really enjoyed the hour long yoga sessions at the noon hour during the finals week. I would love to see more hour long sessions sometime during the day. Otherwise, there isn't enough time to take a class during the day for a staff who only gets an hour break. I'd also love to see some morning classes that allow for staff to get to work by 8am (finished at 7:45) or more that start at 5:15pm.

SRC Response:

I am glad that you enjoy the hour long classes.  While we do our best to satisfy all of the participants, you will see that many also request to have classes that are longer than 1 hour.  We hope that the current schedule of a combination of 60 and 75 minute classes will please both.  Our schedule is highly dependant on instructor availability, but we will work on the possibility of adding more early morning classes.

Participant Comment:

Better instructors, more varied classes, cheaper fees.
There should be dedicated classes for higher or lower level participants. It's frustrating when the instructor has to spend half the class explaining a routine pose.
There should be longer classes available throughout the semester on the weekends or holidays, but they do not need to be workshops, just good yoga classes.

SRC Response:

We strongly support and stand behind the quality of our instructors.  All have an immense amount of knowledge and experience.  While their teaching styles may vary, and you may connect with one more than another, this does not mean that the ones you do not care for are not good instructors.  We will continue hiring instructors from different backgrounds and with different teaching styles because we recognize that everyone appreciates the variety.

The classes have "Levels" assigned to them.  Because we offer classes for free the first week of school the instructors may need to adjust to ensure the safety of all the participants.  However, they should teach the class according to the level for the remainder of the semester.  It is encouraged for participants to attend classes appropriate for their ability.

We are now offering classes throughout the semester, during holidays and school breaks. 

Participant Comment:

more classes at the end of the day (5 or 6pm)

SRC Response:

We do our best to offer classes throughout the day as well as in the evening.  However, because we do not have a room exclusive to SDMB, we share gym space with academic programs and sport clubs. Most sport clubs meet in the evenings so we have a certain time that our classes must end.  Please support an SRC expansion if you would like to see more space dedicated to the SDMB program.

Participant Comment:

Longer class times for yoga. More classes by Josh. A designated gym for the yoga classes so classes would not be disrupted with people getting other weight equipment in the middle of yoga classes.

SRC Response:

We offer a variety of times for the yoga classes because of the range of participants.  Since we are at a university, many participants are faculty/staff on breaks from work or students attending in between classes.  There are a number of requests for more hour long classes as well because of the varied schedules of participants.  We do our best to appeal to as wide of an audience as possible but cannot accommodate everyone's schedule. 

Josh is on the schedule Spring semester for 5 classes per week.  We love Josh as well, but respect that he teaches at a number of other facilities and can only do what he can with the time he has available.

It would be wonderful to have a designated gym for yoga classes.  The current SRC is insufficient to meet the needs of the number of students, faculty, and staff at ASU.   If you would like to see an exclusive room, please support the SRC expansion.

Participant Comment:

The yoga instructors are great. I have no suggestions. As an alternative, however, I would like to see a Tai Chi class offered twice a week.

SRC Response:

Thank you for your compliments about the instructors!  We will look into finding someone to teach Tai Chi as a possible addition to the SDMB schedule.

Participant Comment:

I'm very disappointed in the Spring schedule of Mind/body fitness. I really liked the MW 5:30 mat pilates class, and I see that mat pilates has almost disappeared from the schedule. Any hope it will return? 

SRC Response:

Unfortunately, the Pilates instructors that we had in the Fall are not available to teach in the evenings Spring semester due to other conflicts with work, family, etc.  We would like to offer Pilates classes in the evening and intend to do so if we are able to find a Pilates instructor that is available at that time.

Participant Comment:

Why is the SDMB drop in rate now $10? It used to be $5. You guys keep raising the prices every semester for the class passes, and now you're raising the drop in price too?

I remember the SDMB pass costing $70/semester and the SDF being $30. In only a couple of years those prices have almost doubled.

I know lots of students who are no longer signing up because of your yearly rate hikes. Please reduce the drop in rate back to $5 (as it still is for the SDF) and reduce the costs of the SDF and SDMB.

I know ASU likes to collect all the money it can from students, but this is ridiculous.

SRC Response:

The programs at the SRC have changed considerably over the past few years for many reasons.  Previously, we were able to run on a "break-even" model without a need to generate revenue.  As you may be aware we are faced with a budget crisis.  We are no longer able to run programs on a "break even" model.  We must take into consideration the costs required to pay instructors as well as the need to generate revenues in all areas.  We have received multiple comments from participants that they would like yoga year-round, which we cannot offer unless we have income to pay the instructors.  In order to hire quality instructors we must pay them on a scale comparable to what is paid in the valley. 

We have researched studios in the valley and made sure that our costs are still lower than other locations.  Most studios around the valley have also had to implement price increases over the past few years.  It is unfortunate that some students may no longer be able to take classes due to the price increase.  It is not our intent to drive students away.  Hopefully participants will understand that we do need to make some difficult financial decisions in order to continue offering programs.