NSSE eNews is a periodic electronic newsletter created to keep NSSE users and others informed about current project activities.
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September 2013
Registration Closing Soon: NSSE & FSSE 2014
Institutional Report Redesigned for 2013
Research Universities Using NSSE: Iowa State University
The Updated BCSSE Survey
Research in Brief: How Important are High Response Rates for College Surveys?
Announcements
Registration Closing Soon: NSSE & FSSE 2014
Register online for NSSE and FSSE 2014 by September 25, 2013. 2014 will mark the second year of an updated version of both NSSE and FSSE surveys. More than three years in the making, including pilot testing at a diverse group of institutions and student interviews, the updated NSSE and FSSE incorporate enhancements such as:
- New questions about quantitative reasoning, learning strategies, and effective teaching practices;
- Expanded coverage of collaborative learning, discussions with diverse others, and quality of interactions;
- Modified item wording for applicability to both face-to-face and online education; and
- New topical modules that can be appended to the core survey, focusing on themes such as academic advising, writing experiences, civic engagement, experiences with diverse perspectives, global perspectives, information literacy, and learning with technology. Both NSSE module descriptions and FSSE module descriptions are available online.
Institutional Report Redesigned for 2013
The redesigned NSSE Institutional Report 2013 binders have been shipped to participating institutions, and a new Online Report is now available through NSSE and FSSE's secure Institution Interface. The Institutional Report 2013 features redesigned reports to improve visual display and to better facilitate campus decision making. One of the most significant revisions is the inclusion of an Engagement Indicators report that presents ten key engagement measures, organized within four themes adapted from the former Benchmarks of Effective Educational Practice. The Institutional Report also includes material related to NSSE's two companion surveys, the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE) and the Beginning College Survey of Student Engagement (BCSSE). FSSE materials and reports have also been updated to reflect the revised FSSE instrument, while BCSSE is currently concluding its first administration with an updated instrument. For more information on navigating the new reports, view the previously recorded webinar entitled Your NSSE Institutional Report 2013 Step by Step, which can be found on our Web site: NSSE Webinars. For a synopsis of the 2013 NSSE administration, please see the NSSE 2013 Overview.
Research Universities Using NSSE: Iowa State University
Research universities have been consistently well represented in NSSE: more than 160 Carnegie-classified research universities (68 "very high" and 94 "high" research activity) have participated in NSSE at least once in the last five years, including 32 AAU member institutions. The short brief, How Research Universities Use NSSE Data, highlights examples of research institutions that have used their results to explore teaching and learning, assess educational effectiveness, and improve the conditions for student success. These examples reflect the growing sophistication of NSSE users to integrate results in strategic planning and program assessment, and tighten the link between evidence and educational improvement. An example from Iowa State University illustrates using NSSE data to study and improve teaching and learning initiatives.
The Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at Iowa State University (ISU) has shared NSSE results at campus-wide faculty forums, the annual University Teaching Seminar, at new faculty orientation, and at faculty workshops throughout the year to stimulate discussion about ways to enhance learning through the lens of student engagement. In collaboration with the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Programs and the Center, the ISU Research Institute for Studies in Education (RISE) conducted a longitudinal analysis of its NSSE data for its regional accreditation self-study. RISE also used the analyses to propose curricular models and programming efforts for multiple departments to enhance student engagement.
The Updated BCSSE Survey
126 universities and colleges administered an updated BCSSE survey this summer and fall. Corresponding to the current NSSE, the updated BCSSE instrument was informed by multiple interviews with institutional users and psychometric analysis. The updates include new first-year engagement indicators, such as collaborative learning, quantitative reasoning, and learning strategies. One significant new feature is the availability of advising data within 24 hours of web survey completion. Click here for a sample advising report. More details about the updated BCSSE can be found on our Web site.
Research in Brief: How Important are High Response Rates for College Surveys?
Survey methodologists have often found that low response rates do not necessarily bias results. NSSE staff investigated this proposition by analyzing results from over 300 institutions. Results demonstrated the reliability of four specific NSSE measures based on low response rate administrations. For more information about the study, see the paper and related AIR Annual Forum presentation.
Announcements
NSSE Institutional Report Builder Launches
The NSSE Institutional Report Builder is an interactive tool that instantly generates custom reports. Expanding on the public version, the secure version of the Report Builder generates reports using institution-specific NSSE data. With the report builder, institutions can create tables of benchmark statistics or individual item frequencies that compare subgroups of students within an institution or that compare their students to those from a selected comparison group of institutions. Institutions also have the ability to compare results across years or combine results from multiple years. Access to the customized Report Builder is through the Data and Reports page on the Institution Interface. Please note that 2013 data will be integrated into the Report Builder mid-fall.
New National Advisory Board Members
From its earliest days, NSSE has benefitted from the wisdom and dedication of a National Advisory Board made up of a diverse group of recognized leaders in higher education, including chief executives of institutions and associations, senior administrators, faculty members, institutional researchers, policy experts, and scholars of higher education. We are pleased to announce that four new members will join the board at its next meeting in January, 2014. The new members include the following:
James A. Anderson
Chancellor, Fayetteville State University
Chris Conway
Director of Institutional Research and Planning, Queen's University
Bobby Fong
President, Ursinus College
Peter P. Smith
Senior Vice President of Academic Strategies and Development, Kaplan Higher Education