Basic Reports and Data Dissemination Strategies Regional Users’ Workshop October 6-7, 2005

Overview  The NSSE Reports  Means and Frequencies  Benchmarks  A deeper understanding  Ways to break down the data  How NSSE can help  Special Analysis  Peer Groups  Data Dissemination – What and when to disclose to whom

NSSE Reports  Institutional Report (Aug)  Respondent Characteristics  Means  Frequencies  Annual Report (Oct)  Benchmarks  Benchmark Recalculations

NSSE Reports: RCT  A quick snapshot of your institution  Confirming if sample is representative  Response Rate and Sample Error

NSSE Reports: Means

NSSE Reports: Freqs

Benchmarks  Benchmarks of Effective Educational Practice  Level of Academic Challenge  Active and Collaborative Learning  Student Faculty Interaction  Enriching Educational Experiences  Supportive Campus Environment  Compares to other institutions

Benchmark Recalculations  Changes made to the 2004 Benchmarks  Allows for comparisons across time  Some caveats  SFI  EEE

Reading you Data  First steps -- Before the survey  Trial run; Have admin take the survey as if they were students  Involves other people and gets buy-in  Think about what you do well and what you need to work on  What questions do you want answered and can NSSE answer them?

Reading your Data  Ask general questions first  What confirms what you suspected?  What surprises you?  How accurate was you sample NSSE?  Go back to you mock trials  How accurate were folks?  Where were they wrong?  Look at trends as well as individual items  Group similar items  Look at significance and effect size  Think about who your comparison groups are  Special Analysis?  Go back to data set – there is more variance within institutions than between  Highly engaged vs low engaged  Do different types of students answer in different ways?  Class  Gender  Race

A Deeper Look  Accreditation Toolkits  Tracking NSSE Items to Standards  Can do the same thing for mission statements

A Deeper Look  Use the mission statement to create your own benchmarks  Helps with buy-in as well: can’t say its not important if it’s in the mission

A Deeper Look  Comparisons by Demographics  Minority Students  Adult/Transfer Students  Athletes  Greek Students  By College or Department  Comparisons by Behaviors  Community Service  Study Abroad  High Faculty Interaction  Oversampling?  Comparisons over time  Program implementation  First year students  Seniors  Create your own benchmark scales  Technology  Spirituality/Ethics  Satisfaction  Diversity  Other Surveys  FSSE: Faculty/Student Comps  BCSSE: Incoming Traits  Outside Surveys: YFYC, HERI  Internal Data: Retention, GPA

A Deeper Look  Inter-institution Comps  Selected Peers vs. Consortium vs. Special Analysis  Selecting a peer group  By mission  By size  By department  By Race  By Locale  Current or Aspirant Peers  Selected Peers  Before Administration  No Additional Questions  Institutional Level  Consortium  Before Administration  Additional Questions  Institutional Level  Special Analysis  Post-hoc  No Additional Questions  Institutional or Sub-group(s) Level

Sample Reports

Student Faculty Interaction by Major and Dept.

Sample Reports

Data Dissemination  Provide Teasers  Faculty  Come to class unprepared  Two or more drafts  Received prompt feedback  Hours preparing for class  Student Affairs/Student Government  Hours in co-curricular  Providing support socially  Had serious conversations with those different from you  Study Abroad Office  FY: Plan to study abroad  SN: Did Study Abroad  First Year Exp.  Satisfaction of participants vs. not  Residence Life  Engagement on-campus vs. off-campus  Teaching and Learning  Memorizing vs. Applying  Class Presentations  Contributed to Learning on your own

Some Decisions  How publicly to share  On Campus  Off Campus  Website  US News

Some Decisions  What are you going to do about it?  What’s you Mission?  Involving students  Accreditation  College or Department level vs. Institutional Level  Annual Planning or Goal Setting  Timeline-When to do NSSE again?

Thank you  What experiences have you had on your campuses?  Questions?  Share your stories with NSSE!