The Office of Institutional Research (IR) has been involved in a number of large campus projects in 2009. Here is a look at some of them:
National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)
The IR Office is serving as the project coordinator for the 2009 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). This is a national survey which is used measure how students engage in key educational activities. It asks students about their activities inside and outside of the classroom and it is organized into five areas:
- Level of Academic Challenge
- Active and Collaborative Learning
- Student-Faculty Interaction
- Enriching Educational Experiences
- Supportive Campus Environment
The survey was administered to freshmen and soon to be graduating seniors this past spring. IU Northwest has participated in NSSE six times since 2000. We last participated in 2006. This year we nearly doubled our student participation rate. The official figures have not yet been released but we went from a 16% participation in 2006 to approximately 30% this year.
The survey allows IU Northwest to benchmark our results against other institutions who are participating. This year for the first time all Indiana Universities are participating in the survey. When we receive our final report our data will also include the following comparison groups 1) all IU campuses excluding Bloomington 2) all institutions participating in the Urban Campuses Consortium and 3) selected campus peers.
For more information visit the IU Northwest Office of Institutional Research website http://www.iun.edu/~oir/nsse/ and http://www.iun.edu/~oir/nsse/gened_principles.shtml . You can also visit the main NSSE website at www.nsse.iub.edu
Campus Climate Survey
The Office of Institutional Research coordinated the second Campus Climate Survey at the request of the Chancellor. The on-line survey was conducted in June and July by Indiana University’s Center for Survey Research and was distributed to all full-time faculty and staff. Follow-up focus groups with faculty and staff will be held to further discuss the most important issues that came out of the survey. The final results will be presented to the Chancellor early this fall.
Campus Performance Measures
The Office of Institutional Research is the project manager for the AQIP Action Project “Measuring Effectiveness”. The IR office is currently in the process of collecting data for each of the campus Performance Measures. The measures are divided into three categories 1) Admissions & Enrollment; Enrollment & Recruitment; 2) Financials and 3) Student Success. These performance measures will allow us to keep our eye on our progress in key areas such as student credit hours, headcount, new student recruitment, retention, graduation rates, private money raised, etc.
Once all the data is gathered the IU Northwest Council will determine our campus targets for each measure. At the moment the plans are for the data along with our targets and progress toward those targets to be made available to faculty and staff on the web.
Facilities Planning
The Director of Institutional Research chairs the IU Northwest Facilities Planning Committee. This committee is responsible for providing recommendations and guidance to the Chancellor and IU Northwest Council on issues relating to the physical environment of the campus. The committee was busy this past year assisting with recommendations to relocate departments and individuals who were displaced by the September flood. This committee also reviews all facilities requests submitted by departments on an annual basis. This year’s deadline for facilities requests is November 16, 2009. Reminder emails will be sent out beginning in August. You can find the request form on-line at http://www.iun.edu/~oir/facilities/Facilities_Request_Master.pdf
In addition to these projects the Director of Institutional Research has been involved with planning for the Tamarack building replacement and other facilities planning issues and has completed many other reports in 2009 at the request of both academic and non-academic units including multiple reports to assist in the campus budgeting process. For more information about the Office of Institutional Research go to http://www.iun.edu/~oir/ . (Please note that the website is in the process of being updated).
4 Disciplines of Execution
Kathryn Lantz, Director of Institutional Research along with Carolyn Hartley, Director of Human Resources, became certified to provide training in the 4 Disciplines of Execution. Kathryn and Carolyn held multiple training sessions this past academic year and trained 21 staff members in the departments of Physical Plant, Police, Bursar, Marketing, Alumni Affairs, Admissions, Registrar, Counseling Services, I.T., Environmental Health & Safety, General Services, Career Services, Student Life and Athletics, Student Support Services, Special Retention Programs, Child Care Center, Multicultural Affairs, Occupational Development and Student Testing & Placement.
Training in the 4 Disciplines of Execution will assist these departments in identifying and executing their department’s Wildly Important Goal(s) which supports our campus goal of reaching 6,000 students by fall 2013. |
