Increasing Faculty Use of NSSE Data
Juniata College can be described as a “data rich” institution. Senior administrators are firm believers in gathering as much data as possible to inform their planning efforts. NSSE results feed into Juniata’s planning efforts and were used in the reaccreditation process, beginning with Juniata’s 2001 self-study for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE), and will be used for their upcoming review in 2012–13. NSSE benchmarks and high-impact practices are integrated into their strategic plan, and results on survey items such as study abroad, internships, and critical and analytical skills will be monitored in their long-range planning.
Faculty members at Juniata have shown increasing interest in NSSE results, and the International Learning Assessment Committee has been charged with reviewing the impact of study abroad. Because a large student cohort participated in study abroad in 2010, the committee plans to examine NSSE results for correlations between study abroad and levels of engagement.
Faculty members have also used NSSE items related to attendance at cultural events—some are mandatory for Juniata students—to study their impact on student engagement. A number of faculty members have expressed interest in pursuing research on NSSE to find new ways to use the data. The faculty Academic Planning and Assessment Committee (APAC) works with the director of institutional research to interpret and disseminate NSSE results to the faculty at large. One expected use of NSSE results is in the periodic review of academic departments.
Results from NSSE and other national learning assessments were also used to evaluate the writing program at Juniata. When compared with their peers, Juniata students were not as effective as desired in their critical thinking and analytical writing skills. In addition, faculty members expressed a lack of confidence in the efficacy of the first-year writing program and about student writing competencies across the curriculum. NSSE results revealing that Juniata students wrote fewer long papers and more short papers than their counterparts at peer institutions informed a large part of the revision of the program.
