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The NSSE is administered by the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University-Bloomington. It is widely popular as nearly 1700 four-year colleges and universities and approximately 6.5 million students have participated in NSSE since 2000. In 2022 alone, 469 four-year colleges and universities and over 250,000 students participated in NSSE. (Adapted from )

The survey asks students questions on these four categories:

1. Participation in dozens of educationally purposeful activities
    
2. Institutional requirements and the challenging nature of coursework
    
3. Perceptions of the college environment
    
4. Estimates of educational and personal growth since starting college
    

These categories form the basis of 10 Engagement Indicators (EI) and 6 High-Impact Practices (HIPs) that provide insights on . (Adapted from )

The current version of is comprised of 39 questions. In addition, two topical modules will be asked of students:

1. Academic Advising: The has questions on students seeking academic advising. The is comprised of 6 questions.
    
2. General Education: This module has questions on students demonstrating some learning outcomes of ¶¶Òõ̽̽’s current general education program. There are 10 questions in the general education module (PDF).
    

NSSE data can be used to examine student learning taking place inside and outside of the classroom by a range of users, including program assessment coordinators, academic advisors, academic leadership, student affairs professionals, and institutional research officers. As Deans, faculty, instructors, and academic advisors, you are active stakeholders in utilizing the results obtained from the NSSE. A high response rate among your students will allow for data to be disaggregated by academic unit.

NSSE offers a variety of data reports that allow for institutions to compare responses of their student cohorts with the previous administration year, and with students at selected groups of comparison institutions. Comparisons are available for all survey questions including sets of questions that form the 10 Engagement Indicators and 6 High-Impact Practices. 

Starting this year, OIRA will be providing a data dashboard that will enable users at ¶¶Òõ̽̽ to access comparative data of the last two NSSE administrations (2020 and 2017), disaggregated by academic unit. This dashboard is currently being built and a link for use will be posted here by Summer 2023.

• NSSE Promotions on Campus: February to April 2024
• NSSE Emails to Students: February 28, March 5, March 18, March 28, and April 3.
• OIRA Data Reports: Summer 2024

Given many of you work directly with undergraduate students, your help with survey promotion can greatly aid in maximizing the response rate among students.

Deans Promoting NSSE

• In department meetings, introduce this website to your faculty and staff.
• Share NSSE flyers (below) with your students in your unit buildings, classrooms and Blackboard/Brightspace courses.
• Help OIRA reach out to faculty and instructors that have majority first-year and senior enrollment in their classes – email their contact info to assess@uvm.edu
• If possible, identify a staff person in your unit to serve as a NSSE liaison with OIRA.
• Plan to introduce NSSE in any unit events that are targeted at undergraduate students.
• Consider sending an email to first-years and seniors of your unit and encourage them to participate. If requested, OIRA can provide you with an email template for this.

Faculty and Instructors Promoting NSSE

• Share NSSE flyers (below) with your students in your unit buildings, classrooms and Blackboard/Brightspace courses.
• Email OIRA (assess@uvm.edu) if your class is comprised of students that are mostly first-years or seniors.
• If possible, consider using NSSE participation as extra credit in your class. You can ask students to email you a screenshot of their completion page.
• Consider sending an email to first-years and seniors of your unit and encourage them to participate. If requested, OIRA can provide you with an email template for this.

Academic Advisors Promoting NSSE

• Share NSSE flyers (below) with your students in your unit buildings, classrooms and Blackboard/Brightspace courses.
• Email OIRA (assess@uvm.edu) if you are teaching a class or seminar that is comprised of mostly first-years or seniors.    
• Consider sending an email to first-years and seniors of your unit and encourage them to participate. If requested, OIRA can provide you with an email template for this.