Dalhousie University’s 2008 NSSE results indicated a need to help first-year students become more engaged academically and form stronger connections to the Dalhousie community. A new position was established in the Centre for Learning & Teaching, through the Office of the Vice- President Academic and Provost, specifically to nurture and develop high-impact student engagement initiatives.
Dalhousie values its overall NSSE results, but breaking results down by program and department helped each faculty review strengths and areas that need improvement. For example, in computer science, NSSE results revealed a need for more active and collaborative learning, so more hands-on, project-driven first-year classes were implemented to help students link theory with everyday applications. Student response to these classes was so enthusiastic, additional sections needed to be added. As a result, the department even saw improvement in second-year retention rates.
