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Volume 7, Issue 3 January 2008 |
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NSSE E-News is a bimonthly electronic newsletter created to keep NSSE users and others informed about current project activities.
Alex McCormick Succeeds George Kuh as NSSE Director
FSSE Updates
BCSSE Updates
NSSE in the News
LSSSE Updates
NSSE Roadshow
Opportunities for User Feedback
NSSE Institute Updates
Alex McCormick Succeeds George Kuh as NSSE Director
Please help us welcome Alexander C. McCormick, NSSE’s new director as of January 1, 2008. Douglas Bennett, president of Earlham College and chair of the NSSE National Advisory Board, said “Alex McCormick brings a unique combination of knowledge and experience to the national conversation about collegiate quality and we are most enthusiastic about attracting someone of his caliber to carry forward NSSE’s assessment and quality improvement agenda.”
McCormick has been a Senior Scholar at The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching since 1998, directing the first major revision of the Foundation's widely-used classification of colleges and universities. He also served as Carnegie's director of survey research, and represented Carnegie on both NSSE's Technical Advisory Panel and the National Advisory Board of the Community College Survey of Student Engagement. He holds a Ph.D. in education and sociology from Stanford University, and a bachelor’s degree in French from Dartmouth College.
Lee Shulman, president of The Carnegie Foundation, credited McCormick for “fundamentally transforming” the Carnegie Classification, by overseeing its development into a system far more sensitive to the roles of instruction and public service in defining the mission and character of institutions. In addition to his work at NSSE, McCormick is an associate professor in the Indiana University School of Education. “We are delighted to have been able to recruit a nationally known scholar to lead the continuing partnership between Indiana University and NSSE,” said Gerardo Gonzalez, Dean of the IU School of Education. “He was the perfect candidate to build on the tradition of excellence in student engagement research established by George Kuh and the NSSE team.”
Kuh, who founded NSSE in 1999, will continue to direct the IU Center for Postsecondary Research in addition to teaching in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. He will also serve as a Senior Scholar with the NSSE Institute for Effective Educational Practice. “Alex has been involved with NSSE from the beginning,” Kuh said, “and he is exceptionally well-prepared to take us to the next level.”
In an upcoming E-News, Alex will share his vision for NSSE client services. If you wish to welcome Alex to NSSE, please e-mail him at: amcc@indiana.edu.
FSSE Updates
FSSE Special Analysis Information
Did you know that FSSE provides many options for analyzing your data? Policies for FSSE special analyses are different from those of NSSE, so please review the guidelines before submitting your request. For information, visit the FSSE Web site. Also, feel free to contact a member of your Client Services Team or send an e-mail to fsse@indiana.edu.
BCSSE Updates
BCSSE 2008 Registration Begins Soon!
The Beginning College Survey of Student Engagement (BCSSE, pronounced “bessie”), will open registration on March 3, 2008.
What is BCSSE?
BCSSE collects data from entering first-year students’ on their pre-college academic and co-curricular experiences, as well as their expectations for participating in educationally purposeful activities during the first college year. BCSSE administration usually takes place prior to the start of fall classes and is designed to be paired with NSSE, providing an in-depth understanding of first-year student engagement on your campus.
How is BCSSE Administered?
BCSSE is available in either paper- or Web-based administration modes. Institutions may administer BCSSE as part of new student orientation programs in the summer or during the first two weeks of the fall term, depending on academic calendar and assessment needs.
- BCSSE is locally administered by the institution.
- BCSSE staff consult with each institution to ensure effective administration.
- BCSSE respondents are included in the institution NSSE population file the following spring.
Why participate in BCSSE?
BCSSE data aid the design of pre-college orientation programs, student service initiatives, and other programmatic efforts aimed at improving student learning and success in the first college year. Results are also used to shape initiatives that align the first-year experience with effective educational practices.
Used in combination with NSSE, BCSSE data can help institutions assess the impact of student programs and services on the first-year experience.
Schools can use their BCSSE results in many ways, including:
- Orientation
- Retention
- First-year program evaluation
- Faculty and staff development
- Curricular reform
- Accreditation and self-studies
- Academic advising
- Recruitment
For more information, visit our website at www.bcsse.iub.edu, e-mail us (bcsse@indiana.edu), or call our toll free number: 866-435-6773. We would be glad to help you with any questions you may have.
NSSE in the News
ARTICLE |
DATE |
PUBLICATION |
Professors help students virtually |
1/8/2008 |
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MSU wants students engaged in campus life |
1/8/2008 |
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Are 'helicopter' parents a bad influence on students? |
1/1/2008 |
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The Perils and Perks of Helicopter Parents |
12/19/2007 |
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Education Conservancy Reels in Donations for 'Beyond Ranking' Web Site |
12/4/2007 |
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LSSSE Updates
Registration for LSSSE 2008 has closed, with 79 law schools participating in this spring’s survey administration. LSSSE begins this survey season with new training opportunities for campus project managers, along with two Users’ Workshops aimed at helping schools translate their data into action.
The 2007 LSSSE annual report, Student Engagement in Law Schools: Knowing Our Students, was released in January concurrent with the annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools. LSSSE data also informed a vibrant discussion of millennial students and their impact on legal education during that meeting.
NSSE Roadshow
January 2008 |
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Jan. 23-26 |
Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) |
Washington DC |
February 2008 |
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Feb 1-2 |
Education Writers Association Regional Seminar |
Nashville, TN |
Feb. 9-12 |
American Council |
San Diego, CA
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Feb. 14 |
Ivy Tech Community College 2nd Annual Learning College Conference |
Columbus, IN |
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AAC&U ’s Integrative Designs for General Education and Assessment |
Boston, MA |
March 2008 |
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Mar. 8-12 |
National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Annual Conference |
Boston, MA |
Mar. 29-Apr. 2 |
American College Personnel Association (ACPA) Annual Convention |
Atlanta, GA |
Opportunities for User Feedback
Will you be attending the First-Year Experience conference in San Francisco February 15-19?
If so, we would love to meet with you! We are interested in getting feedback about BCSSE and hearing your suggestions for improvement. BCSSE users and those interested in first-year assessment are invited to a meeting on Sunday evening, February 17. We will also convene a similar group at AIR in May to gather more feedback. Appetizers and refreshments will be provided. Please contact Jim Cole for more information at colejs@indiana.edu or 812-856-3004.
NSSE Institute Updates
New NSSE Webinar Series
NSSE launched its first Webinar, “Getting Down to Basics: Working with Your NSSE Data,” on December 12, 2007. Nearly 150 people signed in to the live session. A recorded version of the session is available on the NSSE Web site at http://nsse.iub.edu/webinar/.
The NSSE Client Services teams will be coordinating Webinars to support NSSE 2008 institutions in their efforts to maximize response rates. Presentations will be informal and are intended to serve as forums for NSSE users to share promising practices for getting more students to complete the survey (i.e. by increasing campus awareness). Participation will be restricted to institutions registered for the NSSE 2008 administration. Each Client Services team will be contacting their schools in late January/early February with details.
For more ideas about increasing campus awareness of the NSSE survey, here are some links to resources on survey promotion:
http://nsse.iub.edu/e-news/vol6_issue3.cfm#f
http://nsse.iub.edu/html/tips.cfm
NSSE is also planning a “Tuesdays with NSSE” Webinar series for 2008 on topics such as the first-year experience, multi-year use of NSSE data, and the Beginning College Student Survey of Engagement (BCSSE). Please check our Web site in early February for a complete listing and registration information.
Specialized Accreditation Toolkits Available Soon!
The NSSE Institute has created new toolkits to assist institutions preparing self-studies for specialized accreditation. The recently completed toolkits align NSSE survey items with the following professional standards for accreditation: ABET standards on computing (computer science and information systems), engineering, and applied science; Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) standards on accounting and business; and National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) standards for teacher education. The toolkits have been reviewed by several area experts from NSSE-participating institutions and will be available for download from the NSSE Web site in mid-spring.