• Student faculty contact
• Active learning
• Prompt feedback
• Time on task
• High expectations
• Experiences with diversity
• Cooperation among students

The data provided by the NSSE survey provides a comprehensive view of student engagement.  The results can be particularly useful in tracking progress toward institutional, departmental, or program goals.

The survey was administered to first-year students and seniors during the Spring 2020 semester, prior to the pandemic.  We received responses from 29% of first-years and 26% of seniors.

The following table shows relative strengths and challenges of 91±¬ÁĎ compared to other New England public universities.

Custom reports have been prepared for the individual colleges.  Further, we are preparing reports focused on the items related to advising, student life, and retention.  Please contact debra.allen@maine.edu if you would like more information about the NSSE data.

The post Highlights from the National Survey of Student Engagement appeared first on Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.

UM

• Overall UM spring enrollment, including Early College, was up by 530 students (5%): 11,383 this year vs. 10,853 last year. Excluding Early College, enrollment was 3% above last year (10,961 this year vs. 10,626 last year). 
• Total undergraduate enrollment was at 8,969, 2% above last year.
• Total graduate enrollment was 2,414 (15% above last year).  This is a record for graduate enrollment at 91±¬ÁĎ.
•  Early College enrollment was up by 195 students (85% increase over last year).     
• Degree-seeking undergraduate enrollment was up by 46 students (1%) and degree-seeking graduate enrollment is up by 384 students (21%).
• Overall fall-to-spring retention rate for degree-seeking undergraduates was flat to last year at 91%.  The fall-to-spring retention rate for first-year students was down by 1 percentage point (89% vs. 90%).

UMM

• Overall, enrollment at the 91±¬ÁĎ at Machias, including Early College, was flat to last year at 680.  Excluding Early College, enrollment was down by 75 students (a 14% decrease).  
• Early College enrollment was up by 75 students (52% increase over last year).
• Overall fall-to-spring retention was three percentage points below last year (80% vs. 83%).

The Spring 2021 Majors Report (i.e., enrollment by major, academic unit, and college) has now been posted to our website here. Spring 2021 Enrollment Report

The post Spring 2021 Enrollment Update appeared first on Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.

All learning outcomes in Brightspace are currently scored against a 4-level achievement scale: Exceeding, Achieving, Approaching, and Emerging, which is a commonly used scale for outcomes assessment. It provides enough information to identify if a student is on-track with their learning without over-complicating the process. Additional achievement scales will likely be available for department-specific use in the future. 

Learning outcomes achievement results are available to students when they receive their assessment feedback and to the instructor and students under the Class Progress part of the course shell where achievement over time can be viewed (see Figure 1 below for an example).

Figure 1: An example of the learning outcomes view from within Class Progress. In this case, there were four assessments linked to the outcome called “Bloom’s 1.2 – Understanding”. The bar graph shows achievement over time. Further details and specific feedback are available to the students when they click the assessments listed at the bottom of the figure.

Instructors can also gain a course overview of outcomes achievement in the Mastery view of the gradebook. Mastery view shows the students’ current achievement level for every outcome that has been assessed in the course. It also provides a course overview for each outcome so the instructor can quickly see the progress of the class as a whole. In the example below (Figure 2), the outcomes are listed across the columns with the pop-out showing overall class progress for the first outcome. It is easy to see in this example that the majority of students in the class are at the Emerging and Approaching levels for this outcome.

Figure 2: Mastery View of the gradebook.

The learning outcomes tools in Brightspace are currently available for course use. For more information on how to get started please see the Brightspace Learning Outcomes Tools area of the Assessment page on the OIRA website, as well as a recording of the recent on this topic. 

The learning outcome tools can also be used to help gather programmatic assessment data, which are an important part of the University Assessment Plan. Although there are some current reporting limitations, we expect them to be addressed by Brightspace in the near future. If you are interested in using the learning outcomes tools for program assessment please contact Ryan (ryan.a.weatherbee@maine.edu) to have your program outcomes entered into the system and discuss your specific needs.

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