After several years of modest NSSE data use, North Central College realized a significant increase in interest in student engagement results by a number of campus constituents. Organic conversations about using NSSE data to inform campus practices followed a few transitions in campus leadership and faculty involvement: a new provost, who has encouraged a greater use of partnerships between academic and student affairs; a new director of the Center for the Advancement of Faculty Excellence, who had used engagement research in her own scholarship; a new director of undergraduate research, who has been eager to learn more about the kinds of students engaging in undergraduate research; and faculty who have been increasingly embracing the idea of greater participation in High-Impact Practices (HIPs). Capitalizing on the potential of these transitions, North Central gave new faculty an orientation session that encouraged them to think about their influence on students’ engagement. Facilitated by North Central’s vice president for student affairs and dean of students and a group of student leaders, this session sought to empower faculty to think about small adjustments they could make in their own classrooms and in their interactions with students outside the classroom to increase student engagement. North Central also hosted a similar conversation with student affairs staff—having them look at findings within subpopulations including HIP participation by race/ethnicity and gender and in the aggregate to get an idea of how students were experiencing the institution.
Meanwhile, a strategic planning process has been under way at North Central College, and the college has reflected intentionally on the measures important to this process. Instead of relying solely on college and university rankings for progress benchmarks, institutional leaders have asked to know more about what students actually do. In response, at a presentation to the college’s board of trustees, the vice president for student affairs and dean of students used NSSE data to illustrate student engagement as an indicator of educational quality and to provide the board a view of the college’s performance through its NSSE results and reports. A similar presentation using NSSE data was given to student affairs staff, and the attendees also discussed ways to improve student learning and development with NSSE indicators in mind. North Central continues its efforts to ensure that all campus units know how the construct of student engagement and the data from NSSE can help create successful educational environments for students
