Member Guide

2008 - 2009

September 2008 ber Campuses! we would like to welcome all 2008 Mem On behalf of the StudentVoice team, ent assessment been a collaborative eort, and our curr Since its inception, StudentVoice has ns, ideas, and vision of the membership. Your suggestio platform is a product of the collective advance these oerings. expertise have allowed us to continually puses, we are very ortunities and challenges on your cam Knowing some of the assessment opp Community will ssment Community. We believe that the excited to launch our new online asse other campuses. e your assessment work and learn from provide several outlets for you to shar s: designed to meet four specic objective The online assessment Community is ent eorts on individual campuses; Enhance the connectivity of assessm s; and benchmarking amongst campuse Inspire member-driven collaboration rtise, and ideas; s to share assessment best practices, expe Connect practitioners across campuse to the eld. ssment knowledge and contributions Facilitate dialogue that advances asse assessment project, site by sharing an innovative campus We encourage you to explore the new rtise in a ging with a blogger, or sharing your expe contributing to a forum discussion, enga departmental Resource Center. ments to the you will see many other new enhance In addition to the online Community, the course of the coming year. StudentVoice platform, now, and over sured, programs Members and see outcomes being mea It has been a privilege to work with our lt of your , and facilities being built all as a resu being developed, services being expanded played a role in rding to know that StudentVoice has assessment eorts. It is especially rewa serve students. helping you and your campuses better in the new Member Campus and wish you the best We thank you for being a StudentVoice academic year!

Eric Reich President

Michael Weisman tions Executive Vice President, Campus Rela

Contents
Connecting the Community Supporting the Membership Getting Started StudentVoice Programs Fundamentals Management Tracking Best Practices A Rewarding Partnership 1 2 3 4 5 7 9 11 12

Ohio State University Member since 2007

Connecting the Community

Our ongoing commitment to better connect individual StudentVoice Member Campuses has extended to building a true online assessment Community.

COMMUNITY FEATURES
StudentVoice has transformed www.studentvoice.com into a virtual higher education assessment Community that provides online forums for sharing assessment best practices, assessment instruments, and eective assessment strategies. Also included are department-specic resources, blogs from campus practitioners, interactive discussion forums, and a myriad of opportunities to learn from other campuses and contribute to the national dialogue on assessment.

BENCHMARKING OPPORTUNITIES
Throughout the academic year, StudentVoice Member Campuses have several opportunities to benchmark with other colleges and universities. Benchmarking allows campuses to compare their assessment results with national averages and to other campuses or peer groups. Benchmarking provides another layer of data to better understand areas where your campus may be excelling, as well as areas of opportunity. All Member Campuses are invited and encouraged to participate in any of the StudentVoice national benchmarking projects. StudentVoice also provides opportunities for campus-specic benchmarking projects whereby a campus may benchmark results using the same instrument from year-to-year or semester-tosemester, to better understand and document trends and change over time.

ASSESSMENT WIKI
A wiki site is an online resource where users can easily nd information and gather new ideas. StudentVoice has developed an assessment-specic wiki that covers a wide array of topics. In addition to covering assessment basics, methodologies, and topics such as accreditation, the wiki links to a list of national and regional assessment conferences and to the StudentVoice user guides and product documentation. New topics will be added to the wiki on a continual basis as the eld of assessment evolves.

ANNUAL MEMBER CAMPUS MEETING

Each year, StudentVoice hosts a Member Campus meeting prior to the NASPA (National Association of Student Personnel Administrators) Annual Conference. This meeting oers in-person opportunities to learn about assessment best practices and techniques from other Member Campuses and StudentVoice Assessment Consultants.

Supporting the Membership

StudentVoice is committed to supporting Member Campuses with innovative assessment resources, consultation, and technology through a variety of opportunities. Whether a single program evaluation or a campus-wide assessment initiative, StudentVoice provides the necessary assistance to ensure assessment success.

ASSESSMENT CONSULTATION
Each Member Campus is assigned a team of StudentVoice Assessment Consultants to assist with aspects of assessment planning and design. Based on your organizational structure, Assessment Consultants work collaboratively with senior administrators, departmental sta, and assessment committees. All Assessment Consultants have past experience as campus practitioners and can assist at several dierent points in the assessment process. Assessment Consultants may also provide guidance and best practices on how to ensure that projects meet the intended goals and data collection strategies.

REMOTE TRAINING
If your campus is just starting with StudentVoice, an Assessment Consultant will provide remote training and full product documentation. StudentVoice also oers an ongoing series of online professional development opportunities, as well as refresher training sessions available to all Member Campuses. The professional development series covers topics such as: measuring learning outcomes, survey design, and how to utilize assessment results. In addition, your campus may request remote trainings tailored to meet specic campus objectives or needs.

ON-SITE WORKSHOPS
For a fee, StudentVoice Assessment Consultants are available to visit your campus and provide on-site workshops. These workshops often coincide with sta professional development days or retreats and are designed with on-campus sta members to ensure that workshops will meet the intended objectives. Intensive half-day or fullday workshops cover topics such as: assessment basics, measuring learning outcomes, benchmarking, and how to utilize assessment results.

GETTING HELP
Product documentation and user guides may be accessed online with your StudentVoice login credentials. StudentVoice hours of operation are Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Eastern Time. During these hours, StudentVoice sta members are available to address your assessment and technical questions. For assistance, please call 716.652.9400 or e-mail support@studentvoice.com.

San Diego State University Member since 2006

University of Michigan Member since 2006

Getting Started
Whether your campus is a new or returning Member Campus, the information below can acquaint or reacquaint you with the features and capabilities of StudentVoice.

CAMPUS COORDINATION
Most Member Campuses designate a campus contact person to coordinate and oversee assessment activities within StudentVoice. In the instance where there is not a divisional assessment contact person, we request that each department select a departmental assessment contact person to ensure coordination and prevent overassessment or duplicate eorts.

OBTAINING ACCESS
To ensure data security, online access to StudentVoice assessment resources, projects, and results is dependent on a unique username and password for each individual. When provided with a list of campus sta members, StudentVoice will create login credentials and provide instructions to access the site. In the event of a forgotten password, utilize the Forgot Password option. It is the responsibility of the divisional or departmental campus contacts to notify StudentVoice of any login credentials that need to be created or deleted.

DATA COLLECTION AND STORAGE

StudentVoice provides two modes of data collection: online or with the use of handheld devices. Regardless of the method to collect data, StudentVoice can be a centralized location to store all of your assessment data. For example, project pages can be created that house qualitative studies, assessment summary reports, and national datasets. In the instances where you would like to upload datasets not collected through StudentVoice, simply obtain a raw datale of individual questions and responses. Once uploaded, you can utilize the StudentVoice reporting features to analyze data and integrate with data points from other studies.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENTS

StudentVoice oers a hosted platform that requires minimal technology support from campus Information Technology departments or sta members. To ensure the successful delivery of any online assessments via e-mail, we suggest that StudentVoices server be whitelisted and allowed to deliver e-mails to your campus server. If whitelisting does not occur, e-mail from the StudentVoice server could be blocked as spam. For additional information about whitelisting, please contact your on-campus Information Technology department.

StudentVoice Programs
The StudentVoice assessment platform is designed for colleges and universities to overcome some of the routine assessment challenges such as a lack of time, limited assessment resources, or limited expertise. Another challenge, however, often presents itself: a lack of connectivity between assessment eorts at the department, division, or institutional level. The StudentVoice platform includes three innovative programs to aid in connecting your assessment eorts: Fundamentals, Management, and Tracking. While your campus may only use one or two of these programs, the result of utilizing all three is a quality, ongoing, and systematic approach to assessment.

FUNDAMENTALS
Design appropriate assessment measures Collect assessment data and integrate existing data Analyze data Report ndings

MANAGEMENT
Create and modify strategic plans, assessment plans, and annual reports Document goals, objectives, and learning outcomes

TRACKING
Document oce visits and attendance at campus events and programs Link oce visit and attendance data to student demographics Administer assessments and collect outcomes data during or after oce visits, events, and programs Create co-curricular transcripts

Specify how departmental goals contribute to the divisional and institutional goals Link assessment data to provide evidence of achievement of goals, objectives, and outcomes Connect goals, outcomes, and data to accreditation standards for self-study

Washington University in St. Louis Member since 2004

Northwestern University Member since 2007

Fundamentals
The Fundamentals program includes the basic tools for successful assessment practice: access to assessment resources, such as example assessment plans and instruments; access to a team of Assessment Consultants to assist with aspects of assessment planning and design; and access to web-based technology for data collection, analysis, and reporting.

project 1 Design an assessment multiple ways for you to conceptualize your assessment StudentVoice provides

an assessment project 2 Requestproject is designed, you may utilize the online Project Request form to Once a

project. In some instances, you may have an existing instrument that was used in the past. If you do not have an existing instrument, the online Community provides example assessments from other campuses. In addition, Assessment Consultants are available to discuss your project goals and the types of data you are looking to collect. In all instances, your project will be reviewed by an Assessment Consultant to ensure that your campus will get actionable data in a usable format.

3 Utilizea the Project Dashboard are automatically directed to the Project Once project is requested, you

request the project. The online form asks for pertinent information about your project such as the timeline, if it is a copy of an existing project, and whether you plan to collect data online or via the handheld data collection tools.

Dashboard. The Dashboard stores relevant information about your project. Each Project Dashboard provides an option to upload documents, such as a copy of the instrument, a resulting summary report, or a related presentation. The Project Notes section of the Project Dashboard allows you to input information about the methodology, results, and actions taken.

assessment 4 Preview yourbutton on theproject Dashboard allows you to take the assessment The Preview Project

as if you were a respondent. In the instance of handheld data collections, you may also preview the assessment on the handheld data collection tool.

5 Administer your assessment project on the Project Dashboard page. Live Live links for web assessments are available

6 View assessment project resultson View Results on the Project Dashboard. To view assessment results, click

links can be posted to an existing web page or links may be embedded in an e-mail message. In the instance you would like to send a mass mailing of the assessment to a list of e-mails, you can create a mailing on the Project Dashboard. For handheld data collections, HotSync each handheld data collection tool and select the Administer Survey option. Once data collection is complete, HotSync each handheld data collection tool to obtain data results.

Results can be displayed in frequency tables or graph format. Additional reporting site features include ltering tools, crosstabs, and the option to add or remove questions from your data report. You may also create saved views of your data for future reference.

7 Share assessment project results and saved views, can be exported into Assessment results, including graphs
GETTING STARTED WITH FUNDAMENTALS

Word, Excel, or a PDF le for inclusion in reports or presentations to share with colleagues and other audiences. The raw data le is available in an Excel or text le for additional data analysis.

Utilize StudentVoice resources and Assessment Consultants to design an assessment Collect data using online or handheld data collection tools View and analyze data using the StudentVoice reporting site Report ndings to various audiences and take action

Full product documentation, as well as a Fundamentals User Guide, is available at: www.studentvoice.com

Oregon State University Member since 2007

University of Texas Member since 2008

Management
StudentVoice Management provides an ecient means to document strategic plans, assessment plans, reports for accreditation purposes, and annual reports. Beyond documentation, Management provides the ability to seamlessly present evidence of achievement of institutional, divisional, and departmental goals, objectives, and outcomes.

1 Enter guiding documents into Management sta colleges and universities Through a user-friendly interface, institutional

can enter mission statements, goals, objectives, and outcomes. Departments can document their contributions to the divisional and institutional goals by tying their departmental goals, objectives, and outcomes to specic divisional or institutional goals. This view allows senior administrators to better understand how departments are contributing to the stated divisional and institutional goals, while departments are better able to understand their role in achieving divisional and institutional goals.

to assessment data 2 Link guiding documentsrelates to a particularand evidence oforachievement be Once collected, data that goal, objective, outcome can documented in Management. This linkage of assessment data to goals, objectives, and outcomes allows campuses to easily showcase evidence of achievement or progress towards a particular goal.

plans 3 View your Management display of Management plans, all information in In addition to the online

Management can be exported into a Word document for sharing with senior administrators, assessment committees, accreditation bodies, and other audiences.

GETTING STARTED WITH MANAGEMENT

Obtain institutional, divisional, and departmental guiding and planning documents Document measurable goals, objectives, and outcomes Relate departmental goals, objectives, and outcomes to institutional and divisional goals to showcase departmental contributions to the bigger picture Link assessment data to provide evidence of achievement of goals, objectives, and outcomes Full product documentation, as well as a Management User Guide, is available at: www.studentvoice.com

University of Missouri Member since 2007

West Virginia University Member since 2007

Tracking
StudentVoice Tracking provides the means to measure and document student participation in the vast array of activities, programs, events, and services on campus. Through Tracking, colleges and universities can link participation data to student demographic information, as well as assessment data. As a result, campuses are able to better understand the characteristics of who participates in activities and how participation contributes to student success and engagement.

demographic le 1 Obtain studentTracking capabilities, colleges and universities are encouraged To fully utilize

the preferred visits 2 Select on the type of method to track events and oce opt to collect participation Based event or oce visit, campuses may Tracking events and oce visits 3 Denethe mechanism to record student participation data has been decided upon, Once data via sign-in sheets, an online form, or handheld devices.

to upload a le containing student identiers (ID, e-mail, or other unique identiers), demographics, and other institutional variables, to the StudentVoice reporting site.

and o 4 Track eventsparticipateceinvisits As students

campuses can request a Tracking project through the online Project Request form. The form will ask for the name and date of the event, or for oce visits, the name of the department or oce, and the duration of the Tracking project.

events or visit campus oces, record student IDs, e-mails, or other unique identiers. Assessment questions may be added to a Tracking event or oce visit to better understand and document students reasons for participation.

5 Create participation reports can create reports that detail attendance After Tracking events, campuses

and participation. In instances where a student demographic le is available, participation data can be linked to student characteristics. Tracking reports can be easily exported into Word, Excel, or a PDF le for inclusion in reports or presentations to share with colleagues and other audiences. The raw data le is also available in an Excel or text le for additional data analysis.

co-curricular transcripts 6 Createuseful for administrators and While

sta, Tracking also provides a co-curricular transcript view for each individual student. The transcript lists participation in campus activities, programs, and events.

GETTING STARTED WITH TRACKING

Obtain a le containing unique student identiers, demographics, and other pertinent institutional variables Select the preferred method (sign-in sheet, online form, or handheld data collection tool) to track participation and oce visits Create participation reports and co-curricular transcripts

Full product documentation, as well as a Tracking User Guide, is available at: www.studentvoice.com

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University of Toronto Member since 2004

University of Wisconsin Member since 2008

Best Practices
Building momentum in assessment takes time. Here are some tips for building and maintaining a quality, ecient, and systematic assessment program.

CAMPUS COORDINATION
Meaningful assessment requires a high level of coordination amongst various stakeholders to avoid over-assessing. Conicts or miscommunications with respect to campus policies governing the collection and sharing of data can be avoided with a coordinated approach to assessment. StudentVoice can suggest appropriate strategies to help detect and prevent these issues by providing a centralized, accessible location that can be customized to provide campus-specic assessment information. Campus administrators can post assessment news and announcements, as well as campusspecic discussion forums. Administrative workow tools can be used to assign assessment tasks and monitor progress.

DATA ACCESSIBILITY
A centralized assessment platform is not only useful for ensuring a coordinated program, but can also promote increased use of assessment data. StudentVoice is designed to house all assessment-related materials, whether it is assessment plans or accreditation materials, assessment data and associated notes, participation and involvement data, or summary reports for various audiences. Member Campuses may also store data from national studies, qualitative projects, and other types of data not collected through StudentVoice.

DATA INTEGRATION
Most colleges and universities are not lacking in data. Rather, they are often lacking in opportunities to combine data in meaningful ways. The value of a centralized assessment platform is realized when data from multiple sources can be easily integrated to create a more holistic understanding of the student experience. The StudentVoice platform provides the means to link data from multiple sources, making assessment reporting more ecient and meaningful.

CONTRIBUTING TO THE COMMUNITY

Assessment success is dependent on internal and external dialogue amongst those planning and conducting assessments, and those charged with making change based on assessment results. With the release of new online Community features, we have taken great strides to connect Member Campuses and we encourage you to participate fully in the online Community, as your contributions will help to shape the future of StudentVoice, as well as the eld of assessment.

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A Rewarding Partnership
StudentVoice reports are used in all areas of the university, from the Board of Trustees and the Presidents Cabinet, to the everyday operations of our units and services. KIM ALLEN-STUCK
Assistant Vice President of Student Life Saint Josephs University Member since 2005

With StudentVoice, we spend less than 1% of our budget to understand the success of the other 99%, which is critical for us to measure eectiveness and value. DENNIS BLACK
Vice President of Student Aairs University at Bualo Member since 2001

The StudentVoice platform can handle any imaginable assessment project, while still being user-friendly, especially the data reporting capabilities, which are eective, timesaving tools for our sta. KIM KLOEPPEL
Student Aairs Planning Ocer University of New Mexico Member since 2006

In a decentralized institution, collaboration is the key to conducting assessment and utilizing resources most eectively. StudentVoice makes it easy for us to monitor assessment activities, share information, and pull reports as needed. STACY ACKERLIND
Director, Student Aairs Assessment, Evaluation and Research University of Utah Member since 2004

The StudentVoice team and tools have made our sta more productive and forwardthinking in their own departments, while helping us become more strategic decisionmakers at the department level. DAVID MCKELFRESH
Executive Director, Assessment and Research Colorado State University Member since 2003

The ease and benets of participating in StudentVoice programs encouraged our professional sta to put assessment activities into action. KATHLEEN BYRNES
Associate Vice President for Student Life Villanova University Member since 2005

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University of Tennessee Member since 2005

210 Ellicott Street, Suite 200 Bualo, New York 14203 716.652.9400 www.studentvoice.com

2008 StudentVoice