Using NSSE to Increase Conversations Among Campus Partners
Marian University has continued to use NSSE data in a variety of ways. Recently, we connected with Dr. Tony Ribera, Director of Educational Assessment, who was able to share more about their ways of sharing data with the entire campus. Marian had done quite a bit with their data from the past administration (See Lessons from the Field Dispatch #2) and in the last year it was more intentional using a comprehensive lens to look at everything that was happening on their campus. They held their first roundtable data share which was a half day event to analyze and understand all the data they had gathered from the NSSE administration.
Looking at various themes in comparison to their peer institution really allowed for discussions around what needed to happen on their campus and the areas that they were lacking in. Dr. Ribera also shared that they already had an event called the ‘Assessment showcase,’ dedicated to faculty presenting their research and scholarship for the grants they receive for teaching and learning. This year they decided to combine this event and redesigned it as ‘an assessment day,’ where the first half of the day was dedicated towards the various presentations for faculty and latter half of the day involved bringing various stakeholders together for a roundtable discussion.
“We setup an internal Canvas shell and gave access to relevant stakeholders on campus, so they could access the various reports and data before we had the roundtable data share meeting,” said, Dr. Ribera. The Canvas shell was designed three weeks in advance of this meeting, which allowed enough time for all participants across campus to review the reports and data before the meeting. They also utilized the discussion feature on Canvas to allow for conversations and interactions prior to their meeting. At the campus event, they began by discussing the general overview and then divided everyone into smaller groups and discussed areas that had their strengths and needed improvements as well the ideas that were shared through the online Canvas shell. The in-person meeting brough together over 40 faculty, staff members, alumni and students from their campus.
Marian also administered the inclusiveness and engagement with diversity module and participated in the Catholic Colleges and Universities Consortium both of which yielded data that contributed towards a rich conversation at the roundtable meeting. Last year, Marian University also joined the higher education data sharing consortium which provided additional sources of data comparisons along with the data reports that their institutional research office was able to provide internally. “Marian is very learning centered and really just wants to do the best for students.” Said Dr. Ribera who also provided an analysis of quantitative data that his office was able to create and identified themes that appeared to be like the findings of their 2019 data. Using data from NSSE in different ways to engage campus partners is an effective practice and Marian University continues to demonstrate this effort through their Center for Teaching and Learning.
