Documenting the value of higher education with student engagement data

Abstract

A key component of the college value story is the explication of specific knowledge, skills, and habits of mind that students gain from their undergraduate education. This session will demonstrate the use of aggregate National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) results to document graduating senior outcomes, highlight new findings from the Senior Transition module that reveal seniors' confidence in essen - tial skills and abilities valued by employers, and explore the specific educational practices associated with these outcomes. We will discuss the implications of this narrative; illustrate approaches to communicat- ing it; feature examples from institutions that have used their data to communicate their unique value stories, including students' open- ended comments to give authentic voice to the quantitative data and exchange ideas about crafting data-rich value stories.