Developing Transferable Skills for the Public Good

Transferable skills are crucial for undergraduates to be prepared to enter the workforce after college. Previous research has shown how effective educational approaches enhance student learning. There is, however, limited research that understands how the emphasis on transferable skills relates to the value of deep approaches to student learning. This paper analyzes how faculty emphasis of transferable skills, through analytical writing and problem-solving, is related to deep approaches to learning in higher education. Data come from a large-scale, multi-institutional study that surveys faculty at four-year institutions. Findings indicate that the intentional development of transferable skills has a positive relationship with emphases on deep approaches to learning. The study reinforces the importance of collaboration between multiple stakeholders to foster student learning

Senior International Students’ Perceptions of Gains While Attending U.S. Colleges

Using the 2015-2017 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) data from senior college students (n=13,950), this study explores the variations of senior international students’ perceptions of gains while attending 1,029 U.S. colleges/universities. Results indicate that seniors from the African Sub-Saharan region gained the most in terms of academic and personal skills while seniors from Canada perceived gains the least

Participation in Undergraduate Research at Minority-Serving Institutions

This research used a national dataset to examine factors associated with participation for underrepresented minority (URM) students, benefits of participation at minority-serving institutions, and examples of programs that work to decrease barriers for URM participation in UR. Findings showed that Latino and first-generation students participated in UR less than White peers, but students at Minority Serving Institutions who participated in research with a faculty member reported using more learning strategies, increased collaboration, and having more experience with quantitative reasoning than students not participating in an UR experience

Developing transferable skills for the public good

Transferable skills are crucial for undergraduates to be prepared to enter the workforce after college. Previous research has shown how effective educational approaches enhance student learning. There is, however, limited research that understands how the emphasis on transferable skills relates to the value of deep approaches to student learning. This paper analyzes how faculty emphasis of transferable skills, through analytical writing and problem-solving, is related to deep approaches to learning in higher education. Data come from a large-scale, multi-institutional study that surveys faculty at four-year institutions. Findings indicate that the intentional development of transferable skills has a positive relationship with emphases on deep approaches to learning. The study reinforces the importance of collaboration between multiple stakeholders to foster student learning

Beyond the Institutional Report: A Guide to Your NSSE Data File

NSSE reports are a great resource for assessing the quality of undergraduate education on your campus, but may not answer specific questions about the engagement of particular subpopulations, relationships between engagement and other institutional information, or the unique experiences of students in different programs or campuses at your institution. Questions such as these can be analyzed using the student-level, identified data files provided with your reports. This webinar is a guided tour of your data files including variable ordering, variable naming conventions, how we create derived variables from survey responses, tips for using various recorded variables, and more

Survey Inclusivity: Centering Minoritized Groups in Survey Design

The emergence of critical quantitative methodologies emphasizes the importance of using race-conscious approaches to highlight the centrality of race in student experiences, as a neutral approach can support a deficit framing. This session explores why it is important to center racially minoritized groups in survey design in order to move toward more equitable assessments of their experiences. Discussion will focus on an example of intentionally centering Black college student experiences in a quantitative study of collaborative learning and perceptions of campus climate with tips and strategies for participants to center racially minoritized voices in their own assessments

Faculty Wellness

This set of items examined here, administered during the 2019 Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE) administration, examines stressors, mental health, and wellness of faculty. Questions explored how difficult work responsibilities or personal life matters were for faculty; if feelings of stress, depression or anxiety were interfering with their ability to succeed; and how many days in a week do they wake up feeling rested. This document outlines basic findings for the wellness item question set and its individual component items

College Students Responding to Sexuality-Based Items: A Differential Test Function Analysis

Surveys are often intended to collect data across a swath of individuals yet sometimes the items favor certain respondents over others. Differential test functioning (DTF) analysis helps us understand if there are underlying latent characteristics that may affect the way a group of individuals responds to items. This study sought to examine if differences existed in the responses to items pertaining to college students’ feeling safe and supported regarding their sexual orientation. Results indicate that there appears to be differences in an item for queer first year respondents, but no differences when looking at senior students. More research is needed to precisely understand which items are functioning differently

Equity and Inclusivity in the Assessment of High-Impact Practices

As we seek to assess what works and what needs improvement in High-Impact Practices (HIPs), it is essential that we critically examine our assessment strategies and methodologies. Many assessment plans inadvertently overlook the experiences of diverse student populations and only focus on large, aggregate data that reflects the experiences of traditionally privileged, majority students. This session will focus on how to conduct more inclusive assessment, including specific strategies for: creating more inclusive survey questions, how to assess the experiences of small populations in order to improve the experiences of small populations, more equitable quantitative methods, and democratically engaged assessment strategies

Examining the relationship between faculty development opportunities and teaching practices

Teaching is arguably the lifeblood of higher education as students enroll in higher education institutions to learn new information. Faculty often partake in developmental opportunities that seek to improve their pedagogical practices and the student experience. Seeing the importance in understanding teaching, this study uses a multi-institution data set to examine the relationship between development opportunities and faculty use of effective teaching practices and course goals. Findings indicate that informal practices including discussing teaching with colleagues, speaking with students beyond course evaluations about classroom practices, and reading pedagogy books increased use of effective teaching practices. These findings have implications for faculty developers coordinating teaching development opportunities, administrators investing funding in development, and faculty who are looking to change their practices