User Workshops

Since 2000, in collaboration with institutional representatives, NSSE has sponsored workshops where more than 700 NSSE users, faculty, administrators, institutional researchers have come together to better use and understand their NSSE data. Hosting a workshop offers institutions the opportunity to energize or showcase their use of NSSE results, exchange ideas with a wide audience of NSSE users, and also focus attention on student engagement and assessment to campus audiences through the coordination of parallel sessions targeted to their own faculty and staff.

Special Event

NSSE CO-SPONSORS* TEACHING AND LEARNING NATIONAL INSTITUTE TO BE HELD AT THE EVERGREEN STATE COLLEGE, July 8–11, 2019

The institute will guide campus teams in planning data-informed change initiatives that can improve the quality of students’ experiences-leading to increases in student engagement, retention and graduation, and learning outcomes. Participating campus teams of 5 to 8 members, of whom at least 3 are faculty, may include an academic administrator, someone with assessment expertise, a student affairs professional, an institutional researcher, or other stakeholders whose perspectives will help you develop an effective and sustainable plan. This residential institute will include plenaries, concurrent sessions, team time, and small- and large-group sessions.

*Co-sponsored with Achieving the Dream, Inc. (AtD), National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA), Washington Center for Improving Undergraduate Education, and Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (WSBCTC).

NSSE User Workshop

HELD ON APRIL 9–10, 2015, AT BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY

Thursday, April 9

Registration

Welcome to Bucknell University
Dr. George C. Shields, Dean of Arts and Sciences, Bucknell University

Plenary: Begin with the End in Mind: Designing a NSSE Action Plan
Presenters: Jillian Kinzie and the NSSE team
In this opening session, participants are invited to identify particular issues or problems they are working on, as well as local challenges in moving from collection to use of NSSE results. Participants will exchange ideas about what they want to learn from and do with their results.

Session 1A: Opening session—Primer on NSSE, FSSE, and BCSSE
Designed for First-Time or New NSSE Users
Presenters: Jim Cole and Allison BrckaLorenz
Student engagement is one of the more widely used sources of evidence that colleges and universities rely on to assess student outcomes and the quality of programs and services. This session provides an overview of NSSE administration, reports, and strategies for approaching and using results. Tactics for involving stakeholders in the process of administering and using NSSE data will be highlighted. This session provides a solid introduction to NSSE and its companion surveys, FSSE and BCSSE, and is recommended for first-time or new NSSE users.

Session 1B: Opening session—Designed for Veteran NSSE Users
Presenters: Bob Gonyea and Louis Rocconi
This session is intended for users who have become more familiar with NSSE over the years. We will cover in more detail aspects of the NSSE reports and practical uses of the data. Topics will include the updated NSSE Institutional Report, Topical Modules, Major Field Report, customization options, the Report Builder, and other web resources.

Session 2A: Approaches to Longitudinal Analysis
Presenters: Louis Rocconi and Allison BrckaLorenz
Many institutions participate in NSSE regularly, allowing for analyses of multiple years of NSSE data. This session explores the use of multiple years of data to assess changes in your students’ engagement scores over time. More specifically, this session will overview general considerations for using multiple years of NSSE data, merging multiple data sets, recommended methods and models of longitudinal analysis, and solutions for challenges associated with longitudinal NSSE data. Participants are encouraged to share their goals for longitudinal assessment and how NSSE multi-year results are being or could be used on their campus.

Session 2B: High-Impact Practices: What’s All the Hype?
Presenter: Jillian Kinzie
Promising “high-impact” activities—including first-year seminars, common intellectual experiences, learning communities, service-learning, writing-intensive courses, collaborative assignments and projects, undergraduate research, study abroad and other experiences with diversity, internships, and capstone courses and projects—have been recognized for their potential to enrich undergraduate education. In this session we’ll review what we’ve learned about these practices, how students benefit, and how institutions have emphasized the assessment of high-impact practices. Participants will explore their new HIP reports and consider ways to start conversations on campus around HIP practices.

Session 2C: One-on-One Consultations—15-Minute Sessions
Bob Gonyea and Jim Cole

Reception with Hors d’Oeuvres and Hosted Bar

Friday, April 10

Breakfast Buffet

Plenary Session: Using NSSE to Explore Campus Issues and Take Action!
Presenters: Jillian Kinzie and Alexander McCormick; Kathleen Harring, Muhlenberg College, and Rita Liu and Kevork Horissian, Bucknell University
The ultimate goal of NSSE is not to gather data. It is to catalyze improvement in undergraduate education. What fosters the shift from data to action? This session provides an opportunity to practice applying NSSE results, to learn about approaches taken by two NSSE institutions to make effective use of results, and to discuss strategies for action. Please be prepared to share your NSSE challenges and successes—and ask questions!

Session 3A: Using BCSSE and NSSE to Help Retention Efforts
Presenters: Jim Cole and Louis Rocconi
Retaining students is a key initiative for institutions. This session will highlight how to incorporate BCSSE and NSSE data to help inform your institution’s retention efforts. In this session, we will discuss research findings relating engagement and retention as well as explore ways in which NSSE and BCSSE data can be used to supplement retention efforts on your campus. We will also highlight examples of how other institutions have used their NSSE and BCSSE data in their retention plans. Finally, we will encourage participants to think of their own retention efforts and how they might use their NSSE or BCSSE results to improve their efforts.

Session 3B:NSSE and Accreditation and Improvement
Presenter: Jillian Kinzie
The most commonly reported use of NSSE results is for accreditation. NSSE's Accreditation Toolkits, designed for all regional and several specialized associations, map NSSE items to accreditation requirements and standards. This session will highlight the relationship between NSSE and accreditation, illustrate how items map to accreditation standards, and discuss the potential for using NSSE data in institutional self-studies and quality improvement plans.

Session 3C: One-on-One Consultations—15-Minute Sessions
Bob Gonyea, Allison BrckaLorenz, and Alex McCormick

Topical Discussion Groups—Designed Around User Interests
Join a small-group discussion focusing on a specific application of NSSE results or a particular challenge to data use, and exchange ideas with your colleagues.
1. Data Dissemination and Presenting Results in Different Formats—What gets faculty attention? (Alex)
2. Response Rates and Incentives—What works to encourage student participation? (Jim)
3. Connecting Offices and Programs to NSSE—What attracts new audiences and increases investment? (Jillian)
4. Modules—How to choose and why. (Allison)
5. Open Discussion—Last-minute topics. (Bob)

Luncheon

Plenary Session with Alexander McCormick, NSSE Director
Putting NSSE Results to Use: Don’t Stop with Your “Average Student”

Session 4A: Continuing the Conversation with Alexander McCormick
This session offers an opportunity to discuss how to move beyond the “average student” in working with your NSSE results.

Session 4B:Using FSSE to Add Context to NSSE
Presenter: Allison BrckaLorenz
This session offers an overview of how faculty data can be used to give context to NSSE results, particularly within academic departments or majors. Session participants will learn how FSSE results can be used on their own as well as combined with NSSE findings to highlight, for example, how faculty values relate to student participation in high-impact practices, how the structure of coursework and course time affect student involvement, or how faculty expectations align with student experiences. This session will also explore how the NSSE Major Field Report and FSSE Disciplinary Area Report can be used by departments to illuminate faculty involvement in student engagement.

Session 4C: Open Discussion Session on NSSE User Challenges and NSSE Resources
Jillian Kinzie will host a discussion centered on user needs and relevant NSSE resources and ways to address specific challenges. Users are encouraged to pose a challenge and then Jillian and other users will suggest resources and exchange ideas.

Session 4D: One-on-One Consultations—15-Minute Sessions
Bob Gonyea, Jim Cole, and Louis Rocconi

Wrap-Up, Final Reflections on Action Steps, Door Prizes!!!

System and Consortia Workshops

Customized workshops can be developed for systems and consortia. NSSE staff members work with systems and individual institutions to offer institution-based, regional, system and consortium in-person and Web-based workshops. Topics include using NSSE data for assessment, strategies for system data dissemination and sharing, and using NSSE for accreditation and system-wide quality improvement plans.

Contact NSSE at nsse@indiana.edu or Jillian Kinzie, jikinzie@indiana.edu, for additional information.

Is your institution interested in hosting a NSSE User Workshop?

The planning models for past workshops have been very flexible and were negotiated according to the needs, resources, and facilities of the host institution. Basically, NSSE staff handles preconference planning, organizes and defines the team work schedule, markets the workshop, and maintains registration lists. The host institution arranges facilities and set up. If desired, NSSE staff collaborates with the host to develop customized sessions to address the institution's student engagement and assessment interests.

Please contact NSSE, nsse@indiana.edu, for more information on host responsibilities and benefits.