One of the most valuable lessons in higher education is for a student to learn the importance of effectively and proactively sharing his or her voice. While all of us have opinions, change can only result when people know how to logically, persuasively and clearly state their opinion and to collaborate with others toward common goals. During college, students learn group dynamics, interpersonal communication and persuasion through group projects and involvement in student organizations; at other times, these concepts are reinforced by the college environment and shared governance philosophy, opportunities for feedback through questionnaires, town hall forums and other forms of active input.Throughout winter quarter, our college will be conducting two projects designed to help us identify opportunities and set priorities for improving campus programs and services. And we need your voice for RWC to be the best we can be!
So I am asking you to tell me: what do you think about the instruction, advising, registration, campus services, and other support offered to you by RWC? How can we better assist students and in what areas are we excelling? Students have a great opportunity to offer their input through the Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Survey, which measures the quality of learning, services provided and the overall college campus experience.
The survey provides information on student satisfaction and priorities and is used at 2,100 American colleges and universities, with more than three million students providing their opinion. Aspects such as academic advising effectiveness, campus climate, campus support systems, concern for the individual, instructional effectiveness, academic services, registration effectiveness, responsiveness to diverse population, service excellence, student centeredness, safety, and security are measured.
Here at RWC, the student survey is being administered to a random sample of approximately 70 classes; so, if you are asked to participate, please freely share your opinion-both the positive and any constructive criticism or concerns. Thank you for taking the time to respond and know that such feedback is indispensable to the future success of the college.
Simultaneously, faculty and staff at the college will be completing a companion instrument, the Noel-Levitz Institutional Priorities Survey. This tool measures faculty and staff views of students’ experiences and will be used to augment and enrich students’ perceptions.
And you are invited to be a part of our college’s Academic Planning process, which begins this week. We’ll provide pizza and pop if you’ll give us some of your time and thoughtful opinions. We will meet in SAHB 100 on Monday, February 21, 11:30-1 p.m. and Tuesday, February 22, 4:30-6 p.m. In these sessions, we will discuss the following questions: Why do students choose RWC? Why do students not choose RWC? Why do students leave RWC? What was the biggest adjustment you had to make when coming to RWC? What do students expect from us? Are we meeting your expectations? Are students aware of our student support services and tutoring? If so, how did you learn about them? If not, how can we better promote our services? How can we better meet the needs of a growingly diverse population? What support systems do we need to better support our students? Are there other content areas in which we should be tutoring our students here? What are our college’s greatest academic strengths? What do we do well? What are our college’s academic weaknesses? Please join us!
Over the next few months, we’ll share in numerous conversations and then we’ll distribute the results of the surveys with the college community and, in order to address those areas of concerns, will continue to seek your input and suggestions. In the meantime, if you would like additional information about the Noel-Levitz surveys, contact Sandi Parker, Director of Institutional Research at 745-5736 or at sandra.stockman@uc.edu.