Hi Janet and TBer's,

As Patty noted this morning, a downside of not having an IR office is having the time and expertise to drill down into the data to answer some of the very interesting questions raised in these discussions. We’ll try, however, to do this when we can.

 

NSSE asks two relevant questions which speak to our ability to disaggregate data by department.  The first yields the following breakdown for which we could disaggregate data:

 

                                                                            Primary Major

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

Valid

Arts and Humanities

161

15.3

19.1

19.1
Biological Sciences

68

6.5

8.1

27.2
Business

69

6.6

8.2

35.3
Education

270

25.7

32.0

67.4
Engineering

1

.1

.1

67.5
Physical Science

38

3.6

4.5

72.0
Professional

35

3.3

4.2

76.2
Social Science

94

8.9

11.2

87.3
Other

96

9.1

11.4

98.7
Undecided

11

1.0

1.3

100.0
Total

843

80.1

100.0

 

Missing

System

209

19.9

 

 

Total

1052

100.0

 

 

 

The second asks students to write in their major. While it would take some effort to do the analysis, here are the write-in responses (note 209 students did not write-in their major).

 

                      NSSE staff recoded primary write-in major (majrprim) into one of 85 majors

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

Valid

Art, fine and applied

44

4.2

5.2

5.2
English (language and literature)

18

1.7

2.1

7.4
History

22

2.1

2.6

10.0
Language and literature (except English)

6

.6

.7

10.7
Music

63

6.0

7.5

18.1
Theater or drama

7

.7

.8

19.0
Other arts & humanities

1

.1

.1

19.1
Biology (general)

38

3.6

4.5

23.6
Biochemistry or biophysics

4

.4

.5

24.1
Environmental science

23

2.2

2.7

26.8
Other biological science

3

.3

.4

27.2
Accounting

17

1.6

2.0

29.2
Business administration (general)

8

.8

.9

30.1
Other business

44

4.2

5.2

35.3
Elementary/middle school education

167

15.9

19.8

55.2
Secondary education

54

5.1

6.4

61.6
Other education

49

4.7

5.8

67.4
Chemical engineering

1

.1

.1

67.5
Atmospheric science (including meteorology)

6

.6

.7

68.2
Chemistry

7

.7

.8

69.0
Earth science (including geology)

7

.7

.8

69.9
Mathematics

11

1.0

1.3

71.2
Physics

6

.6

.7

71.9
Statistics

1

.1

.1

72.0
Law

1

.1

.1

72.1
Medicine

1

.1

.1

72.2
Allied health/other medical

31

2.9

3.7

75.9
Therapy (occupational, physical, speech)

2

.2

.2

76.2
Anthropology

4

.4

.5

76.6
Economics

6

.6

.7

77.3
Ethnic studies

1

.1

.1

77.5
Geography

4

.4

.5

77.9
Political science (including govt., internatl. relations)

9

.9

1.1

79.0
Psychology

52

4.9

6.2

85.2
Social work

1

.1

.1

85.3
Sociology

17

1.6

2.0

87.3
Communications

43

4.1

5.1

92.4
Computer science

7

.7

.8

93.2
Family Studies

18

1.7

2.1

95.4
Criminal justice

15

1.4

1.8

97.2
Other field

13

1.2

1.5

98.7
Undecided

11

1.0

1.3

100.0
Total

843

80.1

100.0

 

Missing

System

209

19.9

 

 

Total

1052

100.0

 

 

 

 

Steve

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Teaching Breakfast List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Janet Nepkie
Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 12:17 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Apologies to TB Group

 

HI, Jim,

Thanks for having scheduled a meeting with Steve and Patty to talk about the NSSE.  Thanks, too, to Patty and Steve for having taken their time to talk to our group.  I'm sorry that I had to leave early to attend another meeting so I didn't have opportunity to hear the discussion after the PowerPoint presentation.

 

I went to our college website to view the entire Patty/Steve NSSE Power Point.

I have several questions about NSSE data. If the questions were answered in the Teaching Breakfast discussion after I left, I hope some one will let me know what was said.

If the questions were not asked, I would like to do so here.

 

My questions are all based on the general premise that data will be a lot more beneficial to our institution if we can decide how to use them.

 

If the generally held belief that higher levels of student engagement will produce higher levels of student academic accomplishment is accurate, how can we raise our student engagement? 

 

If we are at a certain level of student engagement, how can we improve it?  Which areas of our curricula, what sorts of classroom behavior and leadership, result in higher levels of student engagement?

 

We have seen INSTITUTIONAL data for our school.

 

Can we break NSSE data down to the departmental level?

 

If my department has any problems with student engagement, or student study habits, or class attendance, or any of the other engagement and success criteria studied in NSSE, I'd like to know that so I can seek to improve it at the departmental level.  Similarly, if my department is experiencing success with specific NSSE criteria, I'd like to know that so I can be sure we continue whatever activities have been successful.

 

Our INSTITUTIONAL levels of success have a better chance of improving if individual DEPARTMENTS know what areas of their programs may need attention.

 

Although NSSE measures student engagement, the reason for measuring engagement is to improve academic performance, so perhaps this may be a issue that the College Curriculum committee may want to study.

 

Are the NSSE student data generally reflective of the size of the departments on campus?  In other words, if my department accounts for 11 percent of the SUNY Oneonta population, are the NSSE data taken from enough Music Industry students to make an actual reflection of the Music Industry cohort?  If our NSSE data do not reflect our actual student population, can we be confident that our NSSE data give us an accurate picture of our actual student body?

 

I am delighted that Steve pioneered the use of NSSE at Oneonta, and his work with Patty Francis gives us a strong and knowledgeable team that can be of immense value to us. Faculty are fortunate to have this high level of administrative support.  I'm asking my questions because I'd like to be sure that I can use the data they gather and share with us effectively.

 

Thanks

Janet

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. J. Nepkie

SUNY Distinguished Service Professor

Professor of Music and Music Industry

Music Department

State University of New York College at Oneonta

Oneonta, New York 13820

Ph. (607) 436 3425

Fax 607 436 2718

[log in to unmask]

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----

From: Teaching Breakfast List on behalf of Jim Greenberg

Sent: Thu 4/2/2009 8:33 AM

To: [log in to unmask]

Subject: Apologies to TB Group

 

My apologies to Steve Perry and to the Teaching Breakfast group for missing today's get together.  Can someone let me know how it went (or didn't go). 

 

:-(

 

My bad.

 

Mr. James B. Greenberg

Director Teaching, Learning and Technology Center

Milne Library

SUNY College at Oneonta

Oneonta, New York 13820

 

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