How Good Are We A look at the NSSE Data and the DEEP Final Report

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How Good Are We? A look at the NSSE Data and
the DEEP Final Report

• A Report
• Presented to CPPC
• by the
• Middle States PRR Working Group
• February 25, 2004

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• National Surveys In Which Ursinus Participates
• National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)
• Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP)
• College Student Survey (CSS)
• Faculty Survey
• Faculty National Survey of Student Engagement
  (FNSSE)
• National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF)
• College Results Instrument (CRI)

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• The information being presented was taken from
  the National Survey of Student Engagement
  Reports and the final report of the DEEP
  Project.
• This report will provides a comparison of the
  Ursinus College, NSSE National and Carnegie
  Classification Benchmark Scores for the four year
  period, including 2000, 2001 and 2003.

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How Good Are We?

• The DEEP Visiting Team noted in their final
  report that
• At first blush, one might view the College as a
  quaint liberal arts institution, effective, if
  inconspicuous, in enacting its educational
  mission. But if an observer tarries, the
  richness of the educational experience afforded
  by Ursinus becomes readily apparent.

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How Good Are We?

• Ursinus College First Year Students

NSSE data suggest that the first year experience
at Ursinus is very engaging. (Deep,P.11)
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How Good Are We?

• Ursinus College First Year Students

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How Good Are We?

• Ursinus College Seniors

The senior year data are not equally impressive,
though it is also the case that this years
senior class (2003) is the first to fully
experience the Ursinus Plan. The NSSE 2003
results may reveal an impact of the Ursinus Plan
on seniors engagement experiences. (DEEP, P.11)
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How Good Are We?

• Ursinus College Seniors

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NSSE BENCHMARKS OF EFFECTIVE EDUCATIONAL
PRACTICE

• Level Of Academic Challenge
• Challenging intellectual and creative work is
  central to student learning and collegiate
  quality. Colleges and universities promote high
  levels of student achievement by emphasizing high
  expectations for student performance, and
  emphasizing them early in the students contact
  with the institution.

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NSSE BENCHMARKS OF EFFECTIVE EDUCATIONAL
PRACTICE

• Level of Academic Challenge Items
• Preparing for class studying, reading, writing,
  rehearsing, etc.
• Number of assigned textbooks, books or
  book-length packets
• Number of written papers- gt20 pages, 5 19
  pages, lt 5 pages
• Course work emphasizing analyzing, synthesizing,
  making judgments, applying theories or concepts
  to practical problems
• Worked harder than your thought you could to meet
  an instructors standards or expectations
• Campus environment emphasizes spending
  significant amounts of time studying and on
  academic work.

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How Good Are We?

• Observation of the DEEP Visitation Team
• Several themes are consistent across academic
  experiences at Ursinus. First, writing is an
  integral part of the educational process for
  Ursinus students. The expectation of writing
  across the curriculum is well-supported by what
  students described as an accessible and helpful
  writing center.
• Professors also demonstrate a personal interest
  in students, following up with those who missed
  class or are struggling with the assignments.
  Faculty members suggest venues for publication of
  student work and guide students toward
  presentation opportunities at regional
  disciplinary conferences.
• A third theme evident at Ursinus is the
  campus-wide support for the academic mission of
  the institution. In addition to the faculty,
  administrators, and student affairs staff
  discussed previously, this attitude was evident
  from coaches.

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How Good Are We?
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How Good Are We?
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NSSE BENCHMARKS OF EFFECTIVE EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE

• Active and Collaborative Learning
• Students learn more when they are intensely
  involved in their education and are asked to
  think about and apply what they are learning in
  different settings. Collaborating with others
  prepares students to deal with the messy,
  unscripted problems they will encounter daily
  during and after college.

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NSSE BENCHMARKS OF EFFECTIVE EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE

• Active and Collaborative Learning
• Asked questions in class or contributed to class
• Made a class presentation
• Worked with other students on projects during
  class
• Worked with classmates outside of class to
  prepare class assignments
• Tutored or taught other students
• Participated in a community-based projects as
  part of a regular course.
• Discussed ideas from your readings or classes
  with others outside of class

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How Good Are We?

• Observations of the DEEP Visitation Team
• NSSE results suggest that Ursinus students are
  actively engaged in learning Compared with peer
  schools, Ursinus students more frequently give
  class presentations, do more drafts of writing,
  and work with students on projects in class and
  also outside of class. The contrasts are
  particularly sharp for first-year students.
• Students appear to have uneven involvement in
  out-of-class cooperative learning experiences.
  Ursinus encourages students to do an internship
  as one of the ways the ILE requirement can be
  met. However, the proportion of students who
  participate in a community-based class project or
  tutor is unremarkable. In fact, the NSSE
  contributing to welfare of your community gain
  item is relatively low.

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How Good Are We?
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How Good Are We?
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NSSE BENCHMARKS OF EFFECTIVE EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE

• Student-Faculty Interaction
• Students see firsthand how experts think about
  and solve practical problems by interacting with
  faculty members inside and outside the classroom.
  As a result, their teachers become role models,
  mentors, and guides for continuous, lifelong
  learning.

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NSSE BENCHMARKS OF EFFECTIVE EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE

• Student-Faculty Interaction
• Discussed grades or assignments with an
  instructor
• Talked about career plans with a faculty member
  or advisor
• Discussed ideas from your readings or classes
  with faculty members outside of class
• Worked with faculty members on activities other
  than coursework committees, orientation,
  student-life activities, etc
• Worked or planned to work with a faculty member
  on a research project outside of course or
  program requirements

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How Good Are We?

• Observations of the DEEP Visitation Team
• The residential, small-town, human scale
  environment of Ursinus lends itself to frequent
  interactions between students and faculty. The
  classes are small, so faculty members know their
  students on a first name basis. Even the
  president knows many students by name (we were
  told this by students without asking, and
  observed it during our visit to the campus).
  Even so, there are many other small colleges in
  similar settings that do not perform as well on
  this benchmark as Ursinus. Ursinus 2001 NSSE
  scores show that both first-year students and
  seniors report more interaction with faculty than
  do their counterparts at other baccalaureate-liber
  al arts colleges.

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How Good Are We?
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NSSE BENCHMARKS OF EFFECTIVE EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE

• Enriching Educational Experiences
• Educationally effective colleges and
  universities offer many different opportunities
  inside and outside the classroom that complement
  the goals of the academic program. One of the
  most important is exposure to diversity, from
  which students learn valuable things about
  themselves and gain an appreciation for other
  cultures. Technology is used increasingly to
  facilitate the learning process and when done
  appropriately can increase collaboration
  between peers and instructors, which actively
  engages students in their learning. Other
  valuable educational experiences include
  internships, community service, and senior
  capstone courses that provide students with
  opportunities to synthesize, integrate, and apply
  their knowledge. As a result, learning is
  deeper, more meaningful, and ultimately more
  useful because what students know becomes a part
  of who they are.

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NSSE BENCHMARKS OF EFFECTIVE EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE

• Enriching Educational Experiences
• Participate in co-curricular activities
• Practicum, internships, field experiences, co-op
  or clinical experiences
• Community service or volunteer work
• Foreign language coursework study abroad
• Independent Study or self-designed major
• Culminating senior experience
• Had a serious conversation with students that
  have different religious beliefs, political
  opinions or personal values
• Had a serious conversation with a student of a
  different race or ethnicity
• Use electronic Technology
• Campus environment encourages contact among
  students from different economic, social and
  racial or ethnic backgrounds

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How Good Are We?

• Observations of the DEEP Visitation Team
• Ursinus presents its students with numerous
  opportunities to become involved in enriching
  educational experiences, both inside and outside
  the classroom.
• Areas cited Diversity, Technology, and Academic
  and Co-curricular Programs
• Prominent on the Ursinus campus are the Berman
  Museum and the outdoor sculpture collection. The
  museum, located in the center of campus, annually
  hosts a variety of special exhibits in addition
  to its permanent collection An increasing
  emphasis on fine arts was described by several
  faculty and staff as a way to expand the
  diversity of opportunities for student
  involvement, in both academic and non-academic
  endeavors.

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How Good Are We?
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How Good Are We?
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NSSE BENCHMARKS OF EFFECTIVE EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE

• Supportive Campus Environment
• Students perform better and are more
  satisfied at colleges that are committed to their
  success and cultivate positive working and social
  relations among different groups on campus.

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NSSE BENCHMARKS OF EFFECTIVE EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE

• Supportive Campus Environment
• Campus environment provides the support you need
  to help you succeed academically
• Campus environment helps you cope with your
  non-academic responsibilities
• Campus environment provides the support you need
  to thrive socially
• Quality of relationships with other students
• Quality of relationships with faculty members
• Quality of relationships with administrative
  personnel and offices

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How Good Are We?

• Observations of the DEEP Visitation Team
• Throughout this report we have described
  intentional and systematic, as well as
  spontaneous, efforts to make Ursinus supportive
  of students and their success. Examples include
  the First Year Coordinator, the Bridge Program, a
  tag team approach by faculty and student
  affairs staff to identify and assist students in
  difficulty, and extensive positive interaction
  between students and faculty. Most students did
  not seem to mind the attention, or the lack of
  anonymity it implies You really cant fall
  through the cracks here. They wont let you.
  In fact, most said the personal attention offered
  by a small college attracted them to Ursinus, and
  most cited the friendliness they found from
  students and faculty during campus visits as
  important to their decision to apply and attend.

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How Good Are We?

• The DEEP Final Report concluded that
• Ursinus College is marked by a clearly espoused
  and enacted mission. Its singular focus on the
  liberal arts experience is distinctive and
  counters the trend of many small colleges that
  have become less focused and have evolved into
  essentially vocational arts institutions.
• In closing, our time on campus confirmed that we
  made a good choice by including Ursinus in the
  DEEP project. Many other colleges and
  universities will benefit from learning about
  Ursinuss policies and practices along with those
  at other schools in the DEEP project. At the
  same time, even educationally effective
  institutions such as Ursinus have areas in which
  they can improve

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• Part II - Continuing the Discussion
• How Good Are We?
• Middle States Periodic Review Report
• NSSE Benchmark Items of Special Interest or
  Concern