How Did You Collect Data in Relation to the Outcome Indicated? Provide a Brief Description

How Did You Collect Data in Relation to the Outcome Indicated? Provide a Brief Description

GVSU Assessment of
Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) and Student Centered Outcomes (SCO)
As we transition from using WEAVE online to a different system to report Student Learning Outcomes* (SLOs) and Student Centered Outcomes** (SCOs), we are utilizing a Word template to record each unit’s SLOs for the 2016-2017 academic year. Please add any additional SLOs as needed, however we ask that you focus on 2-4 SLOs per academic year. If you would like to look at data from past years, please refer to the attachment on the UAC websiteon how to download your reports from WEAVE. If you have any questions, please contact Chris Plouff at or (616) 331-2400. Please use the following link to reference the University’s SLOs from the General Education Program.
*Closing the loop: Please see SCO 1 and 2 for analysis of previously determined SCOs. Through the following analysis of our findings and planning as a result of these findings, we will close the loop on those SCOs.*
PROGRAM / UNIT NAME: Office of Student Life
COLLEGE/DIVISION: Division of Student Services
PERSON REPORTING: Melissa Baker-Boosamra
DEPARTMENT CHAIR:
UNTI HEAD/DIRECTOR: Bob Stoll
COLLEGE/DIVISION HEAD: Stephen Glass
DATE: December 2017
SCO 1: Students who attend the Transitions New Student Orientation Program will be prepared for success at GVSU through making connections in and out of the classroom and developing an overall knowledge of resources and services that GVSU offers. (What will / does the student know, experience, or be able to do? Include a threshold for assessing the outcome)
Measure 1: (From Transitions survey) “Participating in the Transitions Orientation program has made me feel more prepared to begin my college experience.”
Strongly Agree/Agree / Disagree / Strongly Disagree / Total surveyed
2015 / 90.0% / 7.9% / 1.9% / 1166 students
2016 / 90.0% / 7.3% / 2.7% / 1043 students
2017 / 85.0% / 12.4% / 2.8% / 1623 students

Measure 2: (From Transitions survey) “Transitions has taught me about the resources and services available to me as a new student.”
Strongly Agree/Agree / Disagree / Strong Disagree / Total surveyed
2015 / 94.0% / 4.9% / 0.8% / 1166 students
2016 / 96.0% / 3.6% / 0.7% / 1043 students
2017 / 95.0% / 4.1% / 0.9% / 1623 students

Please provide a written response for each question:
  1. How did you collect data in relation to the outcome indicated? Provide a brief description of the two (or more) measures used.
- Participants complete a voluntary online survey sent from the Dean of Students upon completion of Transitions Orientation. Data is collected for both measures above through the Transitions Orientation survey.
  1. How do you define the level of achievement of the outcome? If applicable, what benchmark informs this threshold? What threshold or target did you define? What was the minimum threshold accepted?
- We measure student confidence relevant to the two measures above.
- The goal is to develop more confidence relevant to the two measures above through engagement with Transitions’ material and experience.
  1. Provide a summary of the assessment findings. Include date or semester to attribute to the findings, source of the data (course/survey/etc.) and other important information such as population source, number of samples, etc., as applicable.
- Please see above analysis associated with the charts. Overall, students who participate
indicate that Transitions (1) “Made (me) feel more prepared to begin (my)
experience” and (2) “Taught (me) about the resources and services available to me as a new
student.”
  1. Provide analysis of the assessment findings. How do the findings support the threshold and/or benchmark? Analyze trends over time and changes since last reporting for this outcome (if applicable).
- Based on student responses for 2015-17, students reported a slight decrease in confidence in relation to both measures. This will be a discussion item for OSL staff, moving forward as we consider how to address this slight decrease.
  1. What actions are planned based on your analysis? Who have/will the findings, analysis and action steps been/be shared with, and when?
- These findings, along with a full UAC report overview, will be shared with OSL staff during a staff meeting and will be discussed during a staff planning retreat. Staff members who plan and implement Transitions will utilize these findings in their planning for the future.
  1. Did the assessment activity cause any new questions to emerge?
- Assessment activity confirms that Transitions continues to provide valuable information and experiences to incoming first year students. Our staff will consider ways that we can continue to improve our support of students’ feeling of “preparedness to begin their college experience.”
- In preparation for 2018, we will consider the feedback regarding additional topics to include to better prepare and collaborate with campus stakeholders to prioritize topics and messages, considering the time constraints of the program.
  1. Sharing what has been learned. Have you disseminated this information? If so, how?
- These findings will be shared during upcoming OSL staff meeting and planning retreat. We will revisit our assessment process regularly, throughout the upcoming years. A comprehensive Transitions executive report is in the process of being composed (as of Dec. 2017) and will be shared with campus partners and stakeholders.
SCO 2: Students involved in registered student organizations (RSOs) will indicate a greater connection with leadership ability than students not involved in RSOs.
Measure 1: (From OSL Annual Survey) “I consider myself to be a leader.”

No / Sometimes / Yes / Total surveyed
2012 / 54% (188) / 32% (112) / 14% (50) / 350 students
2017 / 50% (39) / 31% (24) / 19% (15) / 78 students

No / Sometimes / Yes / Total surveyed
2012 / 24% (153) / 38% (240) / 38% (241) / 634
2017 / 12% (14) / 37% (45) / 51% (62) / 121
Measure 2: (From OSL Annual Survey) “Student Life has enhanced my leadership ability.”

No / Yes / Total surveyed
2012 / 60.3% (599) / 39.7% (399) / 998 students
2017 / 80.6% (25) / 19.4% (6) / 31 students
(48 people answered N/A (not included in graph / percentages.)

No / Yes / Total surveyed
2012 / 22.2% (141) / 77.8% (493) / 634 students
2017 / 26.3% (30) / 73.7% (84) / 114 students
(7 people answered N/A – not included in graph / percentages.)
Please provide a written response for each question:
  1. How did you collect data in relation to the outcome indicated? Provide a brief description of the two (or more) measures used.
- Data was collected through the Office of Student Life Annual Survey in 2012 and 2017. Due to staffing and time constraints, the survey has not been consistently implemented.
- Moving forward, we will conduct this survey annually to develop a more dependable data set. The 2017 survey was sent via Institutional Analysis to a random sample of 6000 GVSU students. We will utilize incentives in the future to increase response rate.
  1. How do you define the level of achievement of the outcome? If applicable, what benchmark informs this threshold? What threshold or target did you define? What was the minimum threshold accepted?
- We measure the correlation between students who participate in RSOs and their respective confidence as leaders. The goal is to support student leadership development through involvement in student organizations and through participation in Student Life involvement and utilization of Student Life resources.
  1. Provide a summary of the assessment findings. Include date or semester to attribute to the findings, source of the data (course/survey/etc.) and other important information such as population source, number of samples, etc., as applicable.
- Please see the above analysis associated with charts.
  1. Provide analysis of the assessment findings. How do the findings support the threshold and/or benchmark? Analyze trends over time and changes since last reporting for this outcome (if applicable).
- This data demonstrates a significant correlation between participation in a registered student organization (RSO) and student confidence in leadership ability. It also demonstrates a significant correlation, for those students who are involved in RSOs, between their confidence in leadership capacity and OSL support.
  1. What actions are planned based on your analysis? Who have/will the findings, analysis and action steps been/be shared with, and when?
- These findings, along with a full UAC report overview, will be shared with OSL staff during a staff meeting and will be discussed during a staff planning retreat. Staff members responsible for RSO training, advising and support will utilize these findings in their planning. The OSL will also utilize this information to support our efforts to increase RSO membership and participation.
  1. Did the assessment activity cause any new questions to emerge?
- Based on the positive correlation between RSO involvement and feelings of leadership capacity, OSL staff will consider the following questions:
- How many students are unaware and don’t utilize the OSL? Out of those who answered “no”, how many don’t know the OSL vs. those who think that we have impacted them?
- How do we reach more students and get more students involved in RSOs?
- What are ways that leadership skills can be objectively measured in students, in order to move from self-evaluation to primary evaluation.
  1. Sharing what has been learned. Have you disseminated this information? If so, how?
- These findings will be shared during upcoming OSL staff meeting and planning retreat. We will revisit our assessment process regularly, throughout the upcoming years.
SCO 3: Student will indicate a sense of confidence regarding knowledge of communities and cultures different from their own. (Aligned with AAC&U VALUE rubric for civic engagement)
Measure 1: “I have gained knowledge concerning communities and cultures different from my own.”
Semester / Very Confident / Confident / Somewhat Confident / Not Confident / N/A
Fall 2016 / 42.6% / 44.3% / 11.7% / 0.6% / 1.0%
Winter 2017 / 61.4% / 33.2% / 4.6% / 0.2% / 0.5%
Fall 2017 / 45.0% / 46.2% / 5.9% / 1.0% / 1.8%
Semester Attendees # of Evals Return Rate
F16 304 231 76%
W17 191 175 91.6%
F17 357 277 77.6%
  1. How did you collect data in relation to the outcome indicated? Provide a brief description of the two (or more) measures used.
- All participants are asked to complete a Program Evaluation Form after participating in CSLC programs. We include SCOs 3-5 (including “Student will indicate a sense of confidence regarding knowledge concerning communities and cultures different from their own” in that Program Evaluation. Students are asked to rate their level of confidence in relation to the SCO on a scale of “Very Confident” to “Not Confident”.
  1. How do you define the level of achievement of the outcome? If applicable, what benchmark informs this threshold? What threshold or target did you define? What was the minimum threshold accepted?
- Students who indicate “Confident” or “Very Confident” are considered to have achieved the outcome. Due to the nature of CSLC co-curricular programming (one-time experiences), we do not currently have a benchmark that we are measuring against. In the future, we will consider: (1) implementing a pre-assessment prior to programs, so that we can track individual student learning pre and post CSLC program and (2) utilizing current data generated as a general baseline for future years assessment efforts.
  1. Provide a summary of the assessment findings. Include date or semester to attribute to the findings, source of the data (course/survey/etc.) and other important information such as population source, number of samples, etc., as applicable.
- Please see above analysis associated with charts.
  1. Provide analysis of the assessment findings. How do the findings support the threshold and/or benchmark? Analyze trends over time and changes since last reporting for this outcome (if applicable).
- Largely, students indicate that they are “Confident” or “Very Confident” in relation to SCO 3, by semester:
Fall 16 86.9%
Winter 17 94.6%
Winter 17 91.2%
- We will continue to measure and collect data for this SCO in order to detect trends over time. Given that the benchmark for achieving the outcome is indicated when students indicate “Confident” or “Very Confident”, we see a high percentage of students who are achieving the benchmark from Fall 2016-Winter 2017. We would like to continue to raise the bar and increase the number of students who indicate “Very Confident”, moving forward.
  1. What actions are planned based on your analysis? Who have/will the findings, analysis and action steps been/be shared with, and when?
- Assessment findings will be shared with CSLC FT staff and student staff. We will consider these findings and will use this data in our regular strategic planning and assessment process. We will work to develop programming to support this SCO, to craft a pre and post assessment that can more accurately capture student learning as a result of CSLC programming and to engage students in primary assessment.
  1. Did the assessment activity cause any new questions to emerge?
- New questions that have emerged as a result of this assessment include: How can we more accurately assess student learning with regards to this SCO, using primary assessment? How can we integrate and assess this SCO in to additional OSL programs, outside of CSLC?
  1. Sharing what has been learned. Have you disseminated this information? If so, how?
- These findings will be shared during upcoming OSL staff meeting and planning retreat. We will revisit our assessment process regularly, throughout the upcoming years.
- Additionally, we will share our assessment of these civic learning outcomes with campus stakeholders in alignment with campus-wide civic engagement and assessment efforts.
SCO 4: Student is more committed to their role as an active citizen in the community. (Aligned with AAC&U VALUE rubric for civic engagement)
Measure 1: “I am more committed to my role as an active citizen in the community and as a result I intend to continue serving in the future.”
Semester / Very Confident / Confident / Somewhat Confident / Not Confident / N/A
Fall 16 / 43.7% / 46.0% / 8.7% / 1.2% / 0.7%
Winter 17 / 52.0% / 34.3% / 11.9% / 0.9% / 0.9%
Fall 17 / 67.1% / 26.2% / 6.6% / 0.1% / 0.0%
Semester Attendees # of Evals Return Rate
F16 304 231 76%
W17 191 175 91.6%
F17 357 277 77.6%
  1. How did you collect data in relation to the outcome indicated? Provide a brief description of the two (or more) measures used.
- All participants are asked to complete a Program Evaluation Form after participating in CSLC programs. We include SCOs 3-5 (including “Student will indicate a sense of confidence regarding knowledge concerning communities and cultures different from their own” in that Program Evaluation. Students are asked to rate their level of confidence in relation to the SCO on a scale of “Very Confident” to “Not Confident”.
  1. How do you define the level of achievement of the outcome? If applicable, what benchmark informs this threshold? What threshold or target did you define? What was the minimum threshold accepted?
- Students who indicate “Confident” or “Very Confident” are considered to have achieved the outcome. Due to the nature of CSLC co-curricular programming (one-time experiences), we do not currently have a benchmark that we are measuring against. In the future, we will consider: (1) implementing a pre-assessment prior to programs, so that we can track individual student learning pre and post CSLC program and (2) utilizing current data generated as a general baseline for future years assessment efforts.
  1. Provide a summary of the assessment findings. Include date or semester to attribute to the findings, source of the data (course/survey/etc.) and other important information such as population source, number of samples, etc., as applicable.
- All assessment for SCO 4 was conducted during from Fall 2016-Fall 2017. Students assessed include all participants in CSLC programs. Number of evaluations collected is listed in table above. Students from across the university participate in CSLC programs.
  1. Provide analysis of the assessment findings. How do the findings support the threshold and/or benchmark? Analyze trends over time and changes since last reporting for this outcome (if applicable).
- Analysis of program evaluations indicates that the following percentage of student participants in all CSLC programs indicated a level of “Confident” or “Very Confident” in relation to SCO 3, by semester:
Fall 16 89.7%
Winter 17 86.3%
Winter 17 93.3%
- We will continue to measure and collect data for this SCO in order to detect trends over time. Given that the benchmark for achieving the outcome is indicated when students indicate “Confident” or “Very Confident”, we see a high percentage of students who are achieving the benchmark from Fall 2016-Winter 2017. We would like to continue to raise the bar and increase the number of students who indicate “Very Confident”, moving forward.
  1. What actions are planned based on your analysis? Who have/will the findings, analysis and action steps been/be shared with, and when?
- Assessment findings will be shared with CSLC FT staff and student staff. We will consider these findings and will use this data in our regular strategic planning and assessment process. We will work to develop programming to support this SCO, to craft a pre and post assessment that can more accurately capture student learning as a result of CSLC programming and to engage students in primary assessment.
  1. Did the assessment activity cause any new questions to emerge?
- New questions that have emerged as a result of this assessment include: How can we more accurately assess student learning with regards to this SCO, using primary assessment? How can we integrate and assess this SCO in to additional OSL programs, outside of CSLC?
  1. Sharing what has been learned. Have you disseminated this information? If so, how?
- These findings will be shared during upcoming OSL staff meeting and planning retreat. We will revisit our assessment process regularly, throughout the upcoming years.
- Additionally, we will share our assessment of these civic learning outcomes with campus stakeholders in alignment with campus-wide civic engagement and assessment efforts.
SCO 5: Student can describe how their civic participation impacts the community. (Aligned with AAC&U VALUE rubric for civic engagement)
Measure 1:
“I am able to describe how my civic participation impacts the community.”
Semester / Very Confident / Confident / Somewhat Confident / Not Confident / N/A
Fall 16 / 51.8% / 38.6% / 8.2% / 0.5% / 0.5%
Winter 17 / 46.5% / 32.6% / 19.9% / 0.6% / 0.0%
Fall 17 / 59.4% / 29.6% / 10.7% / 0.4% / 0.0%
Semester Attendees # of Evals Return Rate
F16 304 231 76%
W17 191 175 91.6%
F17 357 277 77.6%
  1. How did you collect data in relation to the outcome indicated? Provide a brief description of the two (or more) measures used.
- All participants are asked to complete a Program Evaluation Form after participating in CSLC programs. We include SCOs 3-5 (including “Student will indicate a sense of confidence regarding knowledge concerning communities and cultures different from their own” in that Program Evaluation. Students are asked to rate their level of confidence in relation to the SCO on a scale of “Very Confident” to “Not Confident”.
  1. How do you define the level of achievement of the outcome? If applicable, what benchmark informs this threshold? What threshold or target did you define? What was the minimum threshold accepted?
- Students who indicate “Confident” or “Very Confident” are considered to have achieved the outcome. Due to the nature of CSLC co-curricular programming (one-time experiences), we do not currently have a benchmark that we are measuring against. In the future, we will consider: (1) implementing a pre-assessment prior to programs, so that we can track individual student learning pre and post CSLC program and (2) utilizing current data generated as a general baseline for future years assessment efforts.
  1. Provide a summary of the assessment findings. Include date or semester to attribute to the findings, source of the data (course/survey/etc.) and other important information such as population source, number of samples, etc., as applicable.
- All assessment for SCO 5 was conducted during from Fall 2016-Fall 2017. Students assessed include all participants in CSLC programs. Number of evaluations collected is listed in table above. Students from across the university participate in CSLC programs.
  1. Provide analysis of the assessment findings. How do the findings support the threshold and/or benchmark? Analyze trends over time and changes since last reporting for this outcome (if applicable).
- Analysis of program evaluations indicates that the following percentage of student participants in all CSLC programs indicated a level of “Confident” or “Very Confident” in relation to SCO 3, by semester:
Fall 16 90.4%
Winter 17 79.1%
Fall 17 89%
- We will continue to measure and collect data for this SCO in order to detect trends over time. Given that the benchmark for achieving the outcome is indicated when students indicate “Confident” or “Very Confident”, we see a high percentage of students who are achieving the benchmark from Fall 2016-Winter 2017. We would like to continue to raise the bar and increase the number of students who indicate “Very Confident”, moving forward. Achievement of this SCO dipped significantly during winter 2017. We will explore that further.
  1. What actions are planned based on your analysis? Who have/will the findings, analysis and action steps been/be shared with, and when?
- Assessment findings will be shared with CSLC FT staff and student staff. We will consider these findings and will use this data in our regular strategic planning and assessment process. We will work to develop programming to support this SCO, to craft a pre and post assessment that can more accurately capture student learning as a result of CSLC programming and to engage students in primary assessment.
  1. Did the assessment activity cause any new questions to emerge?
- New questions that have emerged as a result of this assessment include: How can we more accurately assess student learning with regards to this SCO, using primary assessment? How can we integrate and assess this SCO in to additional OSL programs, outside of CSLC?
  1. Sharing what has been learned. Have you disseminated this information? If so, how?
- These findings will be shared during upcoming OSL staff meeting and planning retreat. We will revisit our assessment process regularly, throughout the upcoming years.

What are the Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) you plan to focus on next year? Please indicate the 2-4 SLOs that will be assessed next year. If assessment of an SLO this year resulted in action steps, please carry-over that SLO to next year, implementing the action(s), and re-assessing the SLO to determine if the action(s) were effective in addressing the SLO issue/deficiency. SEE SEPARATE DOCUMENT.

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