NSSENSSENSSE
When NSSE participating institutions receive their institutional results, it signals only the beginning of their processes to share and interpret data, identify priorities for action, formulate and implement plans for improvement—and then to circle back to assess the impact of those efforts.
Because NSSE provides rich, reliable information on student learning behavior and effective educational practice, colleges and universities have found many uses for survey results:
Learn about innovative and accessible ways institutions, faculty, staff, and others use their data to improve the undergraduate experience.
Using NSSE Data is an introductory guide describing approaches to using NSSE results and reports.
Since NSSE’s inception, the project has collected hundreds of rich examples of institutions putting student engagement results to use. These are described in depth in multiple volumes of Lessons from the Field.
Explore our multi-volume growing repository of instructive and inspiring stories of institutions' evidence-based improvement initiatives and practical uses of NSSE data to enhance undergraduate teaching and learning.
Our new series—NSSE Data Use in Brief—focuses on how institutions utilize NSSE data to improve specific student outcomes.
Institutional examples highlight approaches to converting data to action in ways that promote student success.
Collectively, they illustrate (a) the benefit of sharing results widely, (b) the utility of linking NSSE data to other sources, and (c) the value of using data to address real campus problems and issues. These accounts demonstrate how NSSE’s diagnostic, actionable information can catalyze vital, sometimes challenging conversations on campus about the quality of education for its undergraduates.
Visit college and university websites featuring exemplary displays of NSSE results in institutionally modified, accessible formats designed for different audiences.
Search our database of more than 500 institutional examples of data use by keyword, institution name, time frame, Carnegie classification, and accreditation organization.
Read institutional examples in the sections "Using NSSE Data" in the Institutional Report and "Examples of Data Use" in Annual Results.
Based on the collective experience of NSSE users, we offer the following suggestions for incorporating NSSE data into institutional improvement efforts:
The reports provide valuable information, particularly if an institution is in the process of strategic planning or needing to report on progress.
Alice Griffin, Director of Curriculum Review and Program Assessment, University of Arkansas
NSSE data serve a diagnostic function by identifying institutional strengths and weaknesses with respect to effective educational practices. Comparisons with peer institutions and the full NSSE cohort reveal aspects of performance not readily available from other sources. Also, examining internal variation in student engagement can help in identifying less-engaged groups and determining how to improve their experience.
Institutions use two basic approaches to benchmarking with NSSE: normative and criterion. One or both may be appropriate, depending on institutional priorities.
The normative approach compares your students’ responses to those of students at other colleges and universities. If enough students have participated, this can also be done at the school, department, or major field level—a particularly effective way of stimulating faculty interest in the findings.
With the criterion approach you compare your institution’s results against a predetermined value that you and your colleagues deem appropriate, given your institutional mission, size, curricular offerings, funding, and other factors.
NSSE results can spotlight current campus issues and concerns. Many institutions share common challenges, such as lower-than-desired retention or completion rates. All institutions have an interest in improving the learning environment.
While no single approach to such issues is right for every institution, the following questions can help frame your examination of NSSE results and your development of action plans: