UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-PLATTEVILLE

1. UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-PLATTEVILLE NATIONAL SURVEY OF STUDENT ENGAGEMENT RESULTS & ANALYSIS

2. REPORT ORGANIZATION • INTRODUCTION • RESULTS WHAT ARE OUR STRENGTHS? WHAT NEEDS ATTENTION? • ANALYSIS & COMMENTS

3. NSSEINTRODUCTION • NATIONAL SURVEY OF STUDENT ENGAGEMENT (NSSE) ADMINISTERED ONLINE TO 1,745 UWP FRESHMEN & SENIORS IN FEBRUARY & MARCH 2004 • PARTICIPANTS SELF-SELECTED

4. NSSEINTRODUCTION • UWP: 41% RESPONSE RATE • PARTICIPANTS’ GENDER DISTRIBUTION MATCHEDUWP SENIOR POPULATION. • HIGHLY RELIABLE RESULTS • ABLE TO COMPARE UWP WITH UW SYSTEM SCHOOLS, “MASTER’S CLUSTER” & NATIONAL DATA

5. NSSEINTRODUCTION • NSSE DATA ARE “NOMINAL,” I.E., CATEGORICAL. • AVERAGES ARE “LESS MEANINGFUL.” • STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE ASKS, “WHAT’S THE POSSIBILITY THIS AVERAGE WAS CAUSED BY ‘RANDOMCHANCE’ ALONE?”

6. NSSERESULTS WHAT IS UWP “GOOD AT?” • WHAT ARE OUR HIGHEST AVERAGES? • WHAT ARE OUR COMPETITIVEADVANTAGES OVER OTHER UW SYSTEM SCHOOLS? • WHAT CONTRIBUTES TO OUR STRENGTHS?

7. NSSEUWP STRENGTHS • UWPSTUDENTS WORK WELL WITH COMPUTERS & INFO TECHNOLOGIES. • HIGHEST AVERAGE … STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT AT .001 LEVEL, COMPARED TO UW SYSTEM SCHOOLS • STRENGTH OF ENGINEERING, MATH & SCIENCE PROGRAMS

8. NSSEUWP STRENGTHS • UWPSTUDENTS WORK EFFECTIVELY WITH OTHERS. • EMPHASIS ON TEAM WORK WILL SERVE OUR GRADS WELL IN ‘THE REAL WORLD.’ • CRITICAL IN PROGRAMS LIKE ENGINEERING, BUSINESS, CRIMINAL JUSTICE, ETC.

9. NSSEUWP STRENGTHS • UWPSTUDENTS ARE GOOD AT APPLYING THEORIES OR CONCEPTS TO PRACTICAL PROBLEMS OR IN NEW SITUATIONS … • AND GOOD AT CRITICAL THINKING & ANALYSIS. • WHILE OTHERUWS SCHOOLS SEEM TO STRESS MORE ROTE MEMORIZING OF FACTS, IDEAS AND METHODS.

10. NSSEUWP STRENGTHS • UWPSTUDENTS ARE GOOD AT IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF BASIC ELEMENTS OF AN IDEA, EXPERIENCE, OR THEORY … • AND THEN INTEGRATING IDEAS OR INFORMATION FROM VARIOUS SOURCES INTO PAPERS & PROJECTS.

11. NSSEUWP STRENGTHS • UWPSTUDENTS ARE MORE ENGAGED THAN ARE OTHER UWS STUDENTS … • IN PREPARING FOR CLASS (STUDYING, READING, DOING HOMEWORK OR LAB WORK, WRITING, ANALYZING DATA, REHEARSING, AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO ACADEMICS). • STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT @ .001

12. NSSEUWP STRENGTHS • UWPSTUDENTS ARE MORE ENGAGED THAN ARE OTHER UWS STUDENTS … • IN PARTICIPATING IN CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES (ORGANIZATIONS, STUDENT GOVERNMENT, SPORTS, CAMPUS PUBLICATIONS, ETC). • STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT @ .001

13. NSSEWHAT NEEDS ATTENTION? • UWPSTUDENTS DON’T WRITE AS MUCH AS WE’D LIKE(ALTHOUGH NOTSIGNIFICANTLY LESS THAN DO STUDENTS AT OTHER SCHOOLS). • UWPSTUDENTS DON’T ATTEND AS MANY THEATRE PERFORMANCES, DANCES, PLAYS, OR ART EXHIBITS AS WE’D LIKE.

14. NSSEWHAT NEEDS ATTENTION? • UWPSTUDENTS DON’T HAVE AS MUCH EXPOSURE TO ETHNIC & RACIAL DIVERSITY AS WE’D LIKE. • FEWER CONVERSATIONS WITH STUDENTS OF OTHER RACES OR ETHNICITIES • LESS CONTACT, LESS APPRECIATION & LESS UNDERSTANDING

15. NSSEWHAT NEEDS ATTENTION? • UWPSTUDENTS HAVE NOT RECEIVED ‘PROMPT FEEDBACK’ ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE FROM FACULTY … • AS PROMPTLY AS THEY’D LIKE (SUBJECTIVE PERCEPTION). • MAY BE A FUNCTION OF THIS GENERATION’S NEED FOR INSTANT GRATIFICATION

16. NSSEWHAT NEEDS ATTENTION? • UWPSTUDENTS HAVE NOT PARTICIPATED IN MANY COMMUNITY-BASED PROJECTS AS PART OF A REGULAR COURSE. • “VERY LITTLE” TO “SOME” IS IDENTICAL TO UWS, BUT LOWER THAN NAT’L AVERAGE (BUT NOT STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT) … • DESPITE ON-GOING EFFORTS OF C-U-P AND UWP FACULTY.

17. NSSEWHAT NEEDS ATTENTION? • UWPSTUDENTS DON’T SEEM TO APPRECIATE OUR GENERAL EDUCATION PROGRAM AS MUCH AS WE’D HOPED. • STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT AT .001 LEVEL BELOWUWS SCHOOLS, BUT … • BOTH FRESHMEN & SENIORS SAY THEIR UWP EXPERIENCE HAS CONTRIBUTED TO A BROAD GENERAL EDUCATION “QUITE A BIT” (3 ON A SCALE OF 1-4).

18. NSSEWHAT NEEDS ATTENTION? • RECENT UWP ALUMS (2001~03) PARTICIPATED IN ACT STUDY ASSESSING QUALITY OF COLLEGE EXPERIENCE • PERHAPS TOO RECENT TO APPRECIATE THE VALUE OF GENERAL EDUCATION • SOME CONSISTENCIES WITH NSSE RESULTS …

19. ACTSTRENGTHS • EFFECTIVE VERBAL SKILLS • EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP SKILLS • DEFINING & SOLVING PROBLEMS • WORKING COOPERATIVELY WITH OTHERS IN GROUPS • EFFECTIVE WRITTEN SKILLS

20. ACTWEAKNESSES • UNDERSTANDING & APPRECIATING ART, MUSIC, LITERATURE … AND CULTURAL DIFFERENCES AMONG PEOPLE • UNDERSTANDING INTERNATIONAL ISSUES • UNDERSTANDING INTERACTIONS BETWEEN HUMAN BEINGS & THE ENVIRONMENT • APPRECIATING / EXERCISING RIGHTS, RESPONSIBILITIES & PRIVILEGES AS A CITIZEN

21. NSSEANALYSIS & COMMENTS • STUDENT PERCEPTIONS ARE NOT THE SAME AS REALITY. • NSSE’S NOMINAL DATA STRUCTURES MAKE COMPARISONS OF MEANS SOMEWHAT AWKWARD … • AND “STAT’L SIGNIFICANCE” MAY BE LESS VALUABLE.

22. NSSEANALYSIS & COMMENTS EXAMPLE • SECT. 4: READING & WRITING … • ITEMS C, D & E ASK ABOUT WRITING • C: 20 PAGES OR MORE … D: 5~19 PAGES … E: FEWER THAN 5 PAGES • IN OTHER WORDS, A 5-PAGE PAPER IS MORE LIKE A 19-PAGE PAPER THAN LIKE A 4-PAGE PAPER.

23. NSSEANALYSIS & COMMENTS • WE ARE “LOCKED INTO” SOUTHWEST WISCONSIN … • LIMITED OPPORTUNITIES FOR COMMUNITY-BASED PROJECTS … • FOR ETHNIC EXPERIENCES & CULTURAL DIVERSITY … • FOR THEATRE, MUSIC, DANCE, ART, AND OTHER CULTURAL EXPERIENCES.

24. NSSEANALYSIS & COMMENTS • UWP DOES PRETTY WELL, CONSIDERING GEOGRAPHIC & CULTURAL CONSTRAINTS. • ON-GOING EFFORTS LIKE STUDY ABROAD & EXCHANGE PROGRAMS, C-U-P&FINE ARTS’ PERFORMANCES MAKE OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE.

25. NSSEANALYSIS & COMMENTS • UWP ACADEMIC INITIATIVES LIKE “WRITING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM” & GENERAL EDUCATION REVISIONS ATTEMPT TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PREPARATION … • EVEN IF STUDENTS MAY NOT APPRECIATE IT AT THE TIME.

26. UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-PLATTEVILLE NATIONAL SURVEY OF STUDENT ENGAGEMENT RESULTS & ANALYSIS

27. QUESTIONS • SHOULD WE “REFERENCE” SPECIFIC NSSE ITEMS? • SHOULD WE “TAILOR” THIS CONTENT FOR SPECIFIC AUDIENCES (E.G., DEANS, STUDENT AFFAIRS, ETC.)? • SHOULD WRITTEN SUMMARIES BE PREPARED FOR SUCH AUDIENCES? • WHAT ROLE FORHLC?