How we let them drive: Developing dashboards to deliver multiple years of NSSE/FSSE data Our Process Southern Association of Institutional Research 2010 Conference - New Orleans Monday, September 27th 4:15 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Robin Logan, Director of Institutional Research Earl Harmsen, Faculty H-E-B School of Business Michael Schulte, Graduate Research Assistant & Doctoral Candidate

4 year, Private, Catholic Hispanic Serving Institution Established 1881 by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word Carnegie: Master’s L San Antonio: 7th largest city in the US

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Geri Hockfield Malandra. (2008) Accountability and learning assessment in the future of higher education. On the Horizon, 16(2), Retrieved September 10, 2010, from proQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: ). Accountability and assessment have become prominent topics of institutional and public discussion

Gonyea, R. M., & Kuh, G. D. (Eds.). (2009). Editor’s note: Using NSSE in institutional research. New Directions for Institutional Research, 141, 1-4. DOI: /ir “increased visibility and importance of institutional research offices staffed by highly skilled and competent professionals who can provide campus leaders with objective, trustworthy data about student and institutional performance”

multiple years of data NSSE 3 years FSSE 2 years "still in the binders" various committees and assessment teams needed “meaningful” information too much to comprehend all at one time

the challenge multi-campus institution 20 questions referenced in the QEP QEP population for NSSE required filters to present the correct views with FSSE data colleges requesting data specific to them

evaluate what had already been done narratives... lots of words! lots of actions! unclear methodologies data quality

NSSE Multi-Year Data Analysis Guide. (2010). Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research. Retrieved September 23, 2010 from Identify and focus on specific questions 2. Select and employ appropriate methods of analysis 3. Attend to data quality for each year in the analysis 4. Take into account changes in NSSE items and reports across years 5. Merge multiple years of data

how does IR...? deliver what multiple stakeholders need move towards “plug-and-play” keep it simple keep our sanity

Hughes, C. (2009). Framing the activities of institutions and academic development units in support of assessment. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 46(2), Retrieved September 10, 2010, from Research Library. (Document ID: ). Universities demonstrate their commitment to enhancing and assuring the quality of assessment through the employment of a diverse array of initiatives.

NSSE ALL NSSE UNIT Tableau - known! Interactive - for UNIT - known! Data source created in MSExcel One file or multiple files? FSSE ALL QEP Combined File

NSSE ALL stacked data for multi-year comparison check alignment of questions add identifier columns (YR, FY/SY, GROUPS) decision about experimental items from prior years

Means and Frequencies Means... well-intentioned, but not enough to present to the community Frequency distributions... referenced for all but one benchmark in the QEP XLSX: NSSE ALL DATA

But what about question response rate? But what about knowing which was used in the QEP? But what about...

XLSX: NSSE ALL DATA

NSSE UNIT much easier same basic steps data for all responses - requires CALCS! match to campus data for campus and college **not necessary with 2010 because it was institutional column

What do we include? filters on the dashboard QEP notations benchmark notations XLSX: NSSE UNIT LEVEL DATA

What do we include? means and frequencies response rate specifically for the question XLSX: NSSE UNIT LEVEL DATA

What do we include? static tables from NSSE ALL comparison to NSSE, Master’s, and Peer Institutions XLSX: NSSE BENCHMARK DATA

FSSE ALL Three concepts to consider: those questions chosen for QEP benchmark comparisons to NSSE with without

Going beyond the frequencies *for those with NSSE crosswalks XLSX: FSSE DATA

Incorporating the QEP goals Crosswalk comparison Methodology FSSE: Main Campus faculty only NSSE: Data filtered to Main Campus respondents XLSX: FSSE CROSSWALK XLSX: NSSE AGG QEP CALCS XLSX: FSSE DATA

QEP - Should it be its own workbook? YES!

Respondent Characteristics XLSX: NSSE RESPONDENTS XLSX: PEER INSTITUTIONS

End Result NSSE ALL almost too big NSSE UNIT split into three interactive workbooks because of size FSSE split into four workbooks because of size QEP limited to 20 questions

End Result Data source: MSExcel started with multiple files transferred to a single multi-tabbed file Worksheets: NSSE Benchmarks NSSE ALL Data NSSE UNIT Data Peer Institutions NSSE Respondents FSSE Crosswalk FSSE Data

Moore, J. (2005). Seven recommendations for creating sustainability education at the university level: A guide for change agents. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 6(4), Retrieved September 10, 2010, from Research Library (Document ID: ). Recommendation: integration of university plans, decision-making structures and evaluative measures and the integration of the research, service and teaching components of the university

Gonyea, R. M., & Kuh, G. D. (Eds.). (2009). Editor’s note: Using NSSE in institutional research. New Directions for Institutional Research, 141, 1-4. DOI: /ir “ascendance of student engagement and other process indicators that serve as both proxy measures for institutional quality and actionable information to inform improvement efforts.”

Robin Logan, Director of Institutional Research Earl Harmsen, Faculty H-E-B School of Business Michael Schulte, Graduate Research Assistant & Doctoral Candidate