The Kept-Up Academic Librarian

NSSE Helps IHEs Improve Student Engagement

Those kinds of steps, however small, could be a key to helping undergraduates get the most out of their educations. Yet both schools might not have made those adjustments had they not participated in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), an annual questionnaire by Indiana University researchers that helps colleges assess and improve student learning. In the 10 years since it was first administered, NSSE (pronounced "nessie") has developed into something of a movement. Nearly 1,400 four-year colleges and universities have participated at least once. Read more at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-11-09-nsse09_ST20_N.htm?csp=34

New Assessment Instrument Focuses On Learning Outcomes

How well young people learn and develop during their college years may be due more to the normal process of maturing rather than the college experience itself, according to a new student assessment tool developed by researchers at Indiana State University. Unlike many instruments that survey students’ attitudes, feelings or beliefs the University Learning Outcomes Assessment (UniLOA) is designed to measure actual behaviors. According to Frederick, The survey also differs in what it measures from the widely used National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). The NSSE measures primarily the collegiate environment and infrastructure, the UniLOA measures strictly learning outcomes, not inputs or the collegiate environment. Read more at:
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/546065/?sc=rsln