Putting Student Comments to Use
At Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) University College campus, NSSE results and questions that arise from them serve as the content of a one-credit School of Education course, “Inquiry Scholars.” Each semester, students enrolled in this course are asked to take up an authentic problem related to improving student learning that can be illuminated with their campus data. After SNHU’s administration of NSSE 2017, eight Inquiry Scholars classmates completed an analysis of the open-ended NSSE item, “What one change would you most like to see implemented that would improve the educational experience at this institution, and what one thing should not be changed?”
The Inquiry Scholars put each comment from the 270 respondents who answered this question on a strip of paper and sorted these into thematic affinity groups. After analyzing the results by gender and year, they shared their findings with more than 150 faculty and staff members. Faculty, in turn, were asked to answer the same prompt during this event, and the Inquiry Scholars analyzed those results as well.
NSSE Student Comments Report: At the end of the core survey, students are invited to express their opinions about their college learning experience in a space for up to 5,000 characters. Institutions can choose one of four open-ended prompts: 1. If you have any additional comments or feedback that you’d like to share on the quality of your educational experience, please enter them below; 2. What has been most satisfying about your experience so far at this institution, and what has been most disappointing? 3. Please describe the most significant learning experience you have had so far at this institution; 4. What one change would most improve the educational experience at this institution, and what one thing should not be changed?
