Widely Sharing Results Through Customized Reports
Youngstown State University (YSU), in Youngstown, Ohio, has participated in five NSSE administrations. To introduce NSSE measures and overall results and to prepare campus administrators for more detailed program-level reports, the YSU assessment office edited YSU’s NSSE Snapshot template of results and shared it via a webpage, with a cover sheet introducing the survey, highlighting results, and enticingly describing upcoming opportunities to learn more about results and “dive into the data.” For campus members less familiar with information in the form of data, the introductory sheet also defined common statistical vocabulary.
Upon receiving their NSSE 2013 results, the assessment office created a dissemination timeline outlining how as well as when NSSE results would be shared and communicated across campus. This timeline included such activities as producing and presenting NSSE overview workshops, providing “Lunch and Learn” workshops, and sharing how to access NSSE data. The dissemination timeline was distributed to campus administrators for accountability and support.
Building from resources on NSSE’s website and NSSE’s standard reports, the first phase of sharing NSSE results was an overview presentation. This presentation provided the history of NSSE, NSSE’s Engagement Indicators, the survey instrument, the alignment of NSSE with the YSU mission, the process of selecting comparison groups for NSSE results, and some preliminary results. Some of the charts and graphs from NSSE reports were put directly into the PowerPoint presentation. This overview appealed to individuals who were less familiar with NSSE and statistical data, and a similar overview was presented to department chairs. At Lunch and Learn sessions, which began at noon, individuals were invited to bring their lunch and dive into Youngstown State’s data. There were six different topics at the Lunch and Learns. Four of them were designed in alignment with the four NSSE themes, Academic Challenge, Learning with Peers, Experiences with Faculty, and Campus Environments, and two additional sessions looked within other NSSE question sets on High-Impact Practices, Advising, and Transferable Skills. The goal of these sessions was both to share data and to gather feedback on how to improve practice and promote a high quality learning environment. During the topical Lunch and Learns, the presenter first explained how to look at NSSE results and then distributed copies of NSSE results and gave attendees 5 to 10 minutes to look at the data. Then, they would have a group discussion about what jumped out as interesting, which items merited concern, and which items stood out as exceptional. On items that had results lower than they would have liked or lower than peers, the group would discuss why they thought the responses were lower and what they could do about it.
In an effort to disseminate NSSE data and results to as much of the campus as possible, including to faculty, department chairs, and student affairs professionals, Office of Assessment staff conducted several training sessions on opportunities to access NSSE data via the online Report Builder tool. These sessions were held in a computer resource room on campus and involved an overview and walk-through on how to use the Report Builder, with tutorial resources and time for attendees to generate their own reports with the Report Builder tool. Attendees left the workshop with an annotated guide on how to use the Report Builder, a link to access the tool later, and a sheet with comparison results for the Engagement Indicators. The faculty, staff and administrators who attended these interactive sessions left eager to work with the Report Builder.
Altogether, over 15 Lunch and Learns and Report Builder sessions were held. Afterwards, attendees were asked to share how they had used the NSSE data or their own analysis of NSSE results in their work. For example, the Reading and Study Skills Center, an academic as well as a service-oriented division of the Department of Counseling, Special Education, and School Psychology in the College of Education, employed results from four items in the Supportive Environment Engagement Indicator, alongside support service use statistics and retention rates of students who completed the reading and study skills course— to highlight three views of YSUs supportive campus environment. The Center for Student Progress, which is where peer tutoring and peer mentoring happens on campus, reflected on NSSE results related to students’ perceived educational gains. As one of the larger student employers on campus, the Center for Student Progress wanted to better understand what their student employees were gaining from their experience. This reflection prompted them to add focused student assessment to the role of mentors and tutors who work at the center.
A common observation in discussions of YSU’s NSSE results was that YSU’s student demographics differ from the traditional student profile. YSU’s results indicated that their first-year students spent a lot of time working off campus, that many of their full-time students worked 30+ hours, and that many students also cared for dependents. All of these points became moments for campus discussion around what student engagement looks like at a commuter campus. Follow-up discussions included reviews of pertinent literature about commuter students, including The Disengaged Commuter Student (Kuh, Gonyea, & Palmer, 2001), and considered student support and activities for commuter students.
Overall, YSU designed their NSSE dissemination plan with the intent to share data and reduce gatekeeping of the data. YSU’s account demonstrates that providing some training and guidance alongside sharing NSSE results widely can help facilitate data use and action on results.
