NSSE Updates

 Important NSSE Dates

As we prepare for the close of another successful administration, we want to remind you of a few upcoming dates!

June 2^nd: Last day for students to respond to the NSSE survey.

June 6^th: Last day to select comparison groups. Defaults will be used if no selections are made.

Mid-June: Look for the NSSE 2009 Invitation to Participate

Mid-August: Institutional Reports will be shipped to Campus Project Managers. Files will also be uploaded to the Institution Interface.

October 16-17: NSSE Users Workshop at SUNY Brockport

Early-November: Annual Report will be sent to Campus Project Managers, Presidents, and Public Relations Contacts.

 

NSSE Users Workshop

NSSE will be offering its annual users workshop at the State University of New York, Brockport, on Thurs.-Fri., Oct. 16-17, 2008. Currently scheduled sessions focus on improving survey response rates, integrating NSSE and CLA data, using NSSE and FSSE in combination, assessing the efficacy of learning communities, and integrating engagement results with institutional accountability efforts. Find complete details on the NSSE Institute Web site.

 We hope you will join us this fall as well as consider submitting a session proposal to share your experiences using NSSE data on your campus. An online proposal submission is provided on the workshop Web site: http://nsse.iub.edu/institute/?view=workshops/2008/suny_b/index

 

New NSSE Staff

There are several recent additions to the NSSE staff at the Center for Postsecondary Research. Please join us in welcoming Jennifer Brooks as NSSE Client Services Manager, and Allison BrckaLorenz and Amber Lambert as NSSE research analysts.

Jennifer Brooks: Jennifer manages client services for NSSE, FSSE, and BCSSE. In addition, she is near completion of an MA in Modern World History from San Francisco State University. Professionally, Jennifer managed quantitative analysis projects for a boutique market research company, as well as managing a team of client service professionals in e-commerce. Having recently relocated to Bloomington from the San Francisco Bay Area, Jennifer is very pleased to join the staff at Indiana University’s Center for Postsecondary Research.

Allison BrckaLorenz: Allison is completing her Ph.D. in higher education from the University of Iowa with her dissertation, “Doctoral students' attitudes about collegiate teaching behaviors." She has a bachelor’s in mathematics from the University of Northern Iowa and a master’s in math education from the University of Iowa. Along with her strong mathematics background, Allison is interested in the teaching and learning of college students and in the accompanying issues faced by faculty. During graduate school, she worked with University of Iowa’s Center for Teaching and on the Core-Plus Mathematics Project where she contributed to improvements in the curriculum for college preparatory mathematics.

Amber Lambert: Amber is completing her Ph.D. in higher education (with a cognate in sociology) at Pennsylvania State University where she worked for four years under Dr. Patrick Terenzini as a graduate research associate for the Center for the Study of Higher Education. At Penn State, she contributed to the Engineering Change study that assessed the learning outcomes of engineering students, and the Parsing the First Year of College project that used NSSE and ACT CAAP data to examine first-year student experiences and outcomes. Her dissertation, entitled "Women in Engineering: The Gendered Effects of Program Changes, Faculty Activities, and Student Experiences on Learning," focuses on the role of gender in students' learning in engineering education. Amber also received a master’s degree in public administration and a baccalaureate degree in mathematics, both from Indiana University. In addition to her role as a NSSE research analyst, Amber will provide research and analytic support to the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project.

 

FSSE Updates

FSSE provides campuses with information that can be used almost immediately to improve various aspects of institutional performance and help professors enrich the college experience of their students. Schools use FSSE results in many ways, including:

The impact of FSSE results can be enhanced when used in combination with results from NSSE. To learn more about additional services and reports we provide, please visit: Selected Results, Sample Reports and Grand Frequencies, and Special Analysis. 

 

BCSSE Updates

BCSSE 2008 registration continues!

If you plan to participate in NSSE 2009, do consider registering for BCSSE 2008. BCSSE is designed to provide information regarding your incoming first-year class, and can be linked with NSSE data the following spring. Linking BCSSE-NSSE data provides a comprehensive, longitudinal view of your students' first-year experiences.

It is not too late to register for BCSSE 2008. For more information, visit www.bcsse.iub.edu.

 

NSSE in the News

ARTICLE	DATE	PUBLICATION
Learning beyond the classroom The Comment Bridgewater State College's student newspaper discusses student engagement and Bridgewater's participation in the NSSE.	5/1/2008
A Different Way to Fight Student Disengagement Inside Higher Ed In a discussion of "disengagement," NSSE is highlighted as a step in the right direction (albeit an incomplete step).	4/15/2008
FSSEC report recommends URI improve faculty-student relations The Good 5 Cent Cigar The student newspaper at the University of Rhode Island reports that URI's Faculty-Staff-Student Engagement Committee "recommended that students and staff at the University of Rhode Island pursue activities beyond classroom education to enhance faculty-student relationships." NSSE results were included in and informed the report.	4/15/2008
More colleges make consumer information public USA Today USA Today updates the total number of institutions participating in the NSSE-USA Today Initiative to 332. In addition to discussing reactions to the initiative, the article also briefly discusses other voluntary accountability efforts.	4/7/2008
Communication and Comfort Across Ethnic Lines Inside Higher Ed NSSE data are referenced and NSSE Director Alex McCormick quoted in an article discussing student diversity in higher education.	3/13/2008
Colleges Encouraged to Improve the Student Experience By Using Identified Best Practices Diverse Issues In Higher Education Diverse Issues in Higher Education discusses some of the latest findings of and releases from the Building Engagement and Attainment for Minority Students (BEAMS) project.	3/13/2008

 

Featured School

University of Massachusetts-Boston

Since 1999, the University of Massachusetts Boston (UMB) has consistently used National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) data to guide institutional improvement. Over the years, UMB has purposefully shared NSSE data with institutional stakeholders to collectively address issues impacting learning and student success. Their NSSE data are regularly shared with senior administrators, the Faculty Council, strategic task forces, and ad hoc committees such as the University Retention Committee and the Campus Community Team. The data have allowed faculty and administrators to better understand the challenges of their student body, establish and develop retention interventions, monitor programming efficacy, meet accreditation standards, and inform strategic planning.

As a public research university with an urban mission, UMB’s student population is entirely comprised of commuter students, many of whom are ‘non-traditional.’ NSSE data have allowed administrators and faculty to gain a more thorough understanding of the external stressors (i.e., work, family, language, immigration status) that impact the student experience. NSSE has also provided evidence for needed improvements in instructional development. Data from their early NSSE administrations indicated that UMB students’ use of technology in academic work was fairly low in comparison to technology use on other campuses. This led to increased investment in technology, enhanced classroom resources, and a plan ensuring that all faculty have access to and training in instructional technology. Over successive NSSE administrations, the data have revealed that as investments in technology have increased, there has been a parallel increase in student use of technology.

UMB has also planned to integrate NSSE results in their future assessment and development plans. They have recently received a $100,000 planning grant to promote success of underrepresented students. A portion of this grant will be used to examine factors that lead to increased retention in the Directions for Student Potential (DSP) program. Their assessment plan includes obtaining a NSSE over sample of first-year students. The NSSE results will be used to examine academic behaviors and practices that increase retention of students participating in DSP programs. As retention is a strategic planning initiative for enrollment increases through 2010, these assessment efforts will help UMB determine how to properly shape, expand, and extend effective elements of the program to support additional student populations.

 

NSSE Institute Updates

NSSE Webinars

Our Tuesday Webinar series continues to be well-received and registration closed quickly for the recent session on “Using NSSE Data in Student Affairs.” Presenters Dan Bureau and Jen Buckley provided an overview of NSSE, a discussion of the importance of assessment in student affairs, and suggested ways student affairs professionals might use NSSE data in their assessment efforts. The Webinar was recorded and is now available for viewing - along with previously recorded Webinars – on the NSSE Web site: http://nsse.iub.edu/webinars/archives.cfm.

  

We’d like to know more about your NSSE experience!

NSSE staff members are currently conducting short interviews with a range of campus contacts about how they use NSSE data, reports, and services. Insights from these conversations will inform our efforts to improve reports and products and to develop new user resources. We also hope to feature these institutional examples in the Using NSSE Data section of the NSSE Annual Report. If you are interested in talking with us about your NSSE experience, please contact nsse@indiana.edu.

 

Spanish Pocket Guide

As we announced in our last e-Newsletter, the Pocket Guide to Choosing a College has recently been translated into Spanish. Una Guia de Bolsillo Para Escoger una Universidad contains questions that students and parents might ask on a campus visit or when exploring colleges on the Web to help make the difficult choice as to what institution best fits the student.

 We have received a very enthusiastic response to the pocket guides. The KnowHow2Go Web site (http://www.knowhow2go.org) - a partnership of the American Council on Education and Lumina Foundation for Education to foster college access, features a link to the English and Spanish versions of the pocket guide. Both pocket guides have also been promoted in KnowHow2Go newsletters. The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities’ (HACU) newest affiliation, Hispanic-Serving School Districts, sent a link to the Spanish version of the pocket guide to their member school districts and added the pocket guide to the K-12 resources section on its Web site.

 College admissions offices and non-profit education organizations may request up to 300 copies of the English version and 100 copies of the Spanish version of the pocket guide free of charge per year. More information and an online request form are available on the NSSE Web site: http://nsse.iub.edu/html/pocket_guide_intro.cfm.

 

Opportunities for Collaboration

From time to time, NSSE receives inquiries from college and university staff and other researchers in the US and abroad who are interested in benchmarking and data-sharing projects that we are unable to pursue directly based on our agreement with participating institutions. In the interest of fostering collaboration, data sharing, and learning from NSSE data, we will provide contact information for such initiatives via postings in NSSE e-News. If you are interested in soliciting participation in such an arrangement yourself, please contact Todd Chamberlain at toachamb@indiana.edu.

Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Australia (enrollment 40,000) would like to benchmark its student services model against large enrollment U.S. NSSE institutions that performed above average on the Supportive Campus Environment benchmark. Institutions interested in collaborating with QUT should contact Robert Marshall (robert.marshall@qut.edu.au) who can discuss the terms under which NSSE results would be used.

 

NSSE Roadshow

May 2008
May 24 – 28	Association for Institutional Research (AIR)	Seattle, WA
June 2008
Jun. 18 - 21	American College Personnel Association (ACPA) Student Affairs Assessment Institute	Indianapolis, IN
Jun. 18-21	Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE)	Windsor, Ontario, Canada
June 13-15	NASPA International Assessment and Retention Conference	AZ
July 2008
Jul. 21-22	Institute for Higher Education Policy Summer Academy	Birmingham, AL
August 2008
Aug. 3-5	CIC-CLA Consortium workshop	Washington, DC

 

Conference Updates

Expectations and Attitudes of Underachieving First-Year College Students  

Authors: James Cole, Robert M. Gonyea

Gender & Racial-Ethnic Gaps Among Entering Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Majors

Authors: James Cole, Jillian L. Kinzie 

Comparing the Utility of the 2000 and 2005 Carnegie Classification Systems in Research on Students' College Experiences and Outcomes

Authors: George Kuh, Alexander McCormick, Gary Pike

 The Effect of Teaching General Education Courses on Deep Approaches to Learning: How Disciplinary Context Matters

Authors: Amy Garver, Thomas Nelson Laird