IUPUI makes extensive use of surveys at both the school and campus levels to gather indirect evidence of student learning that supplements and fleshes out evidence gathered through other assessment activities. Campus-wide survey efforts began in earnest in 1993, following the inception of the Office of Information Management and Institutional Research (IMIR) the previous year. The first student satisfaction survey focused on needs for additional student support resources, including student housing. Over the next four years, IMIR developed annually administered surveys of continuing and non-returning students, recent alumni, faculty, and staff. These instruments were designed specifically to serve campus and school improvement efforts, focusing on support service issues and using satisfaction and importance ratings to determine support needs and perceived service quality.
In the late 1990s, as the campus focused increasingly on student learning, the student and faculty surveys were revised to include more items relevant to teaching and learning improvement efforts. The continuing student and alumni surveys were refocused around students" self-reported learning gains in relation to the PULs. A new reporting format, quadrant maps, was developed to help portray responses to these items. A survey of alumni employers(PDF) , conducted in 2000, also focused on PUL-related learning outcomes.
In 1997, as part of the Restructuring for Urban Student Success Project, IMIR staff worked with colleagues from Portland State University and Temple University to develop a common entering freshman survey. Items from this RUSS survey were subsequently combined with items from the ACT, Inc. Student Information Survey, conducted as part of the ACT/COMP placement testing process, to form IUPUI"s current entering student survey. The survey instrument queries new students about their academic goals, perceived learning needs, expectations about college, and outside obligations, such as work and family commitments.
IUPUI also participated in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) in 2000 and 2002. In collaboration with colleagues from other urban universities, we developed a set of common additional items specifically relevant to the urban student context. Our collaboration with peer campuses allowed for comparison of our survey results with those of our peers. We plan to participate in the NSSE every other year, administering our own Continuing Student Satisfaction and Priorities Survey in alternate years. In 2002, a set of NSSE items was adapted for use in the Faculty Survey, so that faculty perceptions of the learning environment at IUPUI could be compared with those of students.
Current IUPUI surveys are linked closely to campus diversity initiatives. The 1998 editions of the continuing student and faculty surveys and the 1999 staff survey included items related to the campus climate for women and minorities. These items are now being revised to correlate more closely with the latest performance indicators for diversity.
IMIR has incorporated several features into its survey program intended to promote the use of results for program assessment. Stratified random samples are used to ensure the availability of reliable school-level results. Students enrolled in programs scheduled for academic program review are over-sampled the year prior to the review so that program-level results can be included in the program"s self-study. For small programs, results from several years" worth of surveys are combined to create a sufficient sample size. IMIR staff also provides programs the opportunity to customize the alumni survey instrument to serve departmental assessment purposes. In addition, when schools undergo professional accreditation reviews, special surveys tailored to self-study needs are conducted.
Indicators and trends from the range of IUPUI surveys are included in annual reports to support the annual campus planning and budgeting process. Deans and Vice Chancellors are expected to respond to survey findings in their annual plans. Survey results are also incorporated into our performance indicators and annual Campus Performance Report . Presentations of survey results are featured yearly at PRAC meetings and at numerous faculty and administrative department meetings. Units ranging from the University Library to academic programs, departments, and schools, the Registrar"s Office, and many support programs monitor survey results to determine the impact of improvement initiatives on student, faculty, and staff perceptions.
These surveys include both in-house and national instruments. At the campus level, surveys of entering and continuing students, of non-returning students, of graduates and of employers of graduates yield valuable information on student expectations, satisfaction, and perceived learning outcomes that helps faculty and programs plan curricula and pedagogical approaches that engage students and fit their needs.
The various student surveys have been especially important tools in our efforts to improve student retention, helping to illuminate the challenges our students face as they work to continue and complete their education. For example, comparing our results on the NSSE to those of participating peer urban public campuses, we learned that, on average, IUPUI students spend twice as much time working at outside jobs than students at our peer institutions-a statistic that may help explain why our retention rates have been lower than those of peer campuses. NSSE and other survey results were used extensively in developing the Gateway Program"s strategies for improving retention of first-year students, as discussed in depth in the "Teaching" portion of this self-study.
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