Focusing on Engagement at the Department Level
Wofford College uses NSSE results to identify strengths and weaknesses in the undergraduate experience and promotes the use of disaggregated data at the department level. Specifically, a campuswide initiative encourages departments to use NSSE data to enhance curricular offerings and improve teaching practices. Departments were asked to review their NSSE results then organize retreats to discuss how their departmental missions and student learning outcomes might be informed by the data. For example, if improving critical thinking is a learning outcome goal for a department, faculty would examine their students’ scores on several NSSE items related to this area. When the data revealed that computer science students were underperforming on presentation skills, the department organized workshops and guest lectures on public speaking. The department of foreign languages correlated results from NSSE with those from formal foreign language assessment instruments to discover that study abroad is strongly related to student engagement and the achievement of desired departmental learning outcomes.
Wofford has used NSSE results in its marketing campaigns and posts results publicly on the home page of its institutional Web site. NSSE results are included in a four-page brochure, Measuring Student Engagement—Learn What Your Student Will Actually Get, distributed to alumni groups, including the Alumni Executive Council, and used by admissions staff with visiting prospective students and high school counselors. An accessible interpretation of NSSE benchmark results and suggested questions that ask—“How does the survey of student engagement work at Wofford and other participating colleges?” and “How do colleges measure their performance in engaged learning?”—help to interpret and explain Wofford’s NSSE results. Finally, on the institutional Web site, www.wofford.edu, there is a prominent link under the “Admissions” menu to information on NSSE, Wofford’s 2010 NSSE results, and a statement on the institution’s commitment to institutional transparency.
NSSE results have helped spark changes in admissions criteria at Wofford College. Specifically, community service and civic engagement are important aspects of student life at Wofford with students engaging in service not only in their local communities but also abroad. For example, many Wofford students have taught in elementary schools in Guatemala or worked in an HIV/AIDS clinic in Paris. As a result of the emphasis placed on community service and civic engagement among undergraduate students, Wofford College has begun to emphasize volunteer experience when reviewing the applications of prospective students.
