On February 21st first-year and senior students will be asked to participate in a survey gauging student experience here at UW-L. The survey will be sent to students in an e-mail by the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE).

In the survey, students will find a variety of questions focusing on information in five different categories. These are the categories as stated by the NSSE website, “(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, and (5) background and demographic information.”

The kinds of questions students will answer in these categories ranges from how often they participate in class to how many times they draft a paper to how often you have discussions with people of a different race, economic background, religion, etc. “We use the data on these questions to help guide discussion for both faculty and staff, in academic and student affairs,” said Patrick Barlow, the coordinator of UW-L’s participation in NSSE.

UW-L has participated in taking this survey many times. First beginning in 2000, then again in each year up to 2004, then in 2006, 2008, 2011, and most recently, 2014. The survey has now fallen into a rhythm of being done every three years, and it’s not only UW-L that participates, many other UW schools do as well. This means that UW-L is able to compare our results to other universities to see where we are doing well and what might need improvement.

In the past, UW-L has used the results from this survey to fix problems such as minimal interactions between first-year students and faculty members. UW-L received this information from the 2014 survey results, and in 2015 began a project to improve academic advising. Then in 2016, UW-L went a step further and created the project Reimagining the First Year in order to help meet the needs of the first-year students.

The survey also came with good news explains Barlow. A strength our campus has, Barlow said, “is the supportive campus environment including positive ratings of relationships between students, staff, and faculty.  About 93% of First Year and Senior students rated their overall UW-L experience as excellent or good.”

Completing the survey takes only about fifteen minutes. The questions are based on student experiences at UW-L. If students are interested in viewing the results of the survey, they are sent to the school in August. From there, Barlow works to create summaries to send to academic and student affairs leaders and posts them on their website (https://www.uwlax.edu/institutional-research/assessment/).

Participating in this survey allows the University to hone in on what UW-L is doing well, and where improvements could be made. When an email from NSSE pops up in your inbox, click the link. Also, a random drawing for thirty $10 Maroon Dollars cards will be offered to students who complete the survey before April 1st.