Lessons from the Field

How Institutions Use NSSE: Lessons from the Field

Lessons from the Field (LFF) is an ever growing repository of practical ideas for NSSE institutions' evidence-based assessment and improvement initiatives. 

Use Lessons from the Field stories to explore how other colleges and universities have translated NSSE findings into meaningful action. These case studies can help your institution identify strategies, engage stakeholders, adapt successful practices to local needs, and move from results to action.

View 120+ institution data use stories

Download the LFF Dispatches (via the links at right) to read short collections of institutional examples, or read the longer compendiums in LFF Volumes 1-4 (via the links below).  

Latest Lessons

Find NSSE's most recent collections of institutional stories in the Dispatches, below.

LFF Dispatch #6LFF Dispatch #5LFF Dispatch #4
LFF Dispatch #3
LFF Dispatch #2
LFF Dispatch #1

Lessons from the Field—Volume 4: Digging Deeper to Focus and Extend Data Use

"NSSE asks things that matter and we’ve found the results to be sufficiently interesting and relevant to engage student affairs professionals and faculty quite easily in making meaning of the results." --Laura Coghlan, Director of Institutional Research and Assessment, The Evergreen State College

Lessons from the Field—Volume 3: Using Data to Catalyze Change on Campus

"We’ve tried for years to get this data used and we seem to have broken through this year. Perhaps it’s just the breaking point, but I think the new survey has questions that better engage the campus" --Nancy Grear, Director of Institutional Research and Assessment (retired), Nazareth College

Lessons from the Field—Volume 2: Moving from Data to Action

"BCSSE and NSSE results have helped guide our thinking and planning over the past two years as the campus engaged in a broad-based strategic planning process." --Marianne D. Kennedy, Associate Vice President, Academic Programs, Assessment and Planning Southern Connecticut State University

Lessons from the Field—Volume 1: Using NSSE to Assess and Improve Undergraduate Education

"This volume captures the emerging lessons from the field, providing instructive accounts and inspirational examples of how colleges and universities are using NSSE results to enhance undergraduate teaching and learning." --Peter T. Ewell, Vice President National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS)

How Association Member Institutions Use NSSE Results

Read data use stories from member institutions of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), the Association of American Universities (AAU), and The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC).

What’s your NSSE Story?

We are always looking for fresh examples of institutional uses of NSSE to communicate results, promote evidence-based improvement, expand effective educational practices, integrate student support into the classroom, or develop and implement improvement initiatives for accreditation.

Please share your story!