University of Nebraska Assessment
2004 Annual Assessment Report

Institutional Assessment:

Three institutional assessments were administered during 2004. These included the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), the 2004 CSHE Faculty Survey, and the Registrar's Exit Questionnaire of graduating students.

The NSSE has been given to randomly selected students at the freshmen and senior levels in 2002, 2003, and 2004. Currently, the data is not utilized by UNK for planning or specific evaluative purposes to determine program effectiveness. The Director of Assessment developed a longitudinal table and linked the tables to the NSSE Profiles included in the NSSE reports. This work was completed in December. The data will be disseminated to various constituencies across the campus in the spring of 2005. The 2003 data was disseminated during the spring semester of 2004 through such methods as a panel discussion and distribution of the mean comparative reports to the Faculty Senate, Deans, and Department Chairs, and specific groups on campus. A link on the web site was also developed and data summaries for 2002, 2003, and 2004 were posted in December. The NSSE was not contracted to be administered in 2005. The results are currently not being used for planning and evaluation by the institution. The data for the past three years presents a very consistent pattern of baseline data and trends. A cycle was developed for future administrations and posted on the UNK Assessment web site (http://aaunk.unk.edu/asmt/about/AsmtCycle.asp).

The CSHE Faculty Survey was contracted with Penn State University for administration in February and March. The purpose of the survey was to identify faculty perceptions regarding first year education and experiences. The data from the faculty surveys was also analyzed in conjunction with the student responses on the NSSE by the Center for the Study of Higher Education at Penn State. The results of the analyses were received in November. The results will be disseminated in the spring of 2005.

The Registrar's Office administers their survey each semester to graduating students. The Assessment Web Site has a link for this survey data. However, it had not been updated in several years. The data was obtained and the site was updated in November and December.

There are three major considerations for institutional assessment that need to be considered in the near future. The most important consideration being that the data being obtained may be very useful, but it is not linked to any type of institutional goals or evaluation. Until it is, the utility of the data will be rather minimal. The second is that institutional goals need to be defined in a manner that lend to their evaluation and then institutional assessments need to be identified for measuring them. The last consideration is that the division of Student Life administers a number of assessment measures. These need to be linked to those utilized in the academic area to form a more complete picture regarding students.

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