Northern Arizona University

A Comparison of Yield Rates from Undergraduate Admissions Recruitment Events

Bryan Whish: Undergraduate Admissions

The Office of Undergraduate Admissions is planning to do a comparison on the success of the various events in which we conduct, based on applications, offers of admission and enrollment.  The events that will be compared include Open Houses, Daily Campus Visits, and Senior Information Sessions and Yield events.  The main purpose of this study is to find out which event(s) are more successful in terms of enrolling students.

Orientation Revisited

David Forgues: New Student Programs

A study was undertaken to gauge student opinions of orientation some 5 months after they had attended the program.  The results show student reactions to the program as well as demonstrate their learning about specific topics covered at orientation.

The Pre-Registration Event: Facilitating Successful Course Schedule Building

Rebecca Cole, Roger Stroope, & Jennifer Iuvone: Freshmen Academic Programs

In the fall of 2006, Freshmen Academic Programs implemented the grant-funded Pre-Registration Event (PRE). This event was designed to assist freshmen students enrolled in FYE 101 in selecting liberal studies courses for the spring semester, and in learning the skills required to build an appropriate course schedule. This poster will present results of the PRE’s measurable outcomes, including student attendance, understanding of early enrollment, and preparedness for enrollment.

Instructional Support Program--Supporting Peer Instructors in the Classroom

Rebecca Cole, Roger Stroope, & Jennifer Iuvone: Freshmen Academic Programs

Freshmen Academic Programs' FYE 101 freshmen seminar includes an Instructional Support Program (ISP) to insure the successful transition of the Peer Instructor into the first-year classroom.  The ISP focuses on providing core information, enhancing instructional skills, developing curriculum and assessing the course experience.  This includes a synchronized feedback approach including student surveys, instructor self-assessments and classroom observations.

NAU Summer Academy

Terry Hubbard & Diana Betoney: Educational Support Programs

Four Corners Upward Bound Math and Science and Upward Bound join together with the Nizhoni Academy to put forth an intensive five-week academic summer program for eligible high school students.  Students earn high school and college credit while experiencing residence hall life on the Northern Arizona University campus.  The summer curriculum includes hands-on research projects in math and science as well as coursework in reading, English, math and science.  In addition to courses, students prepare for and take the ACT college entrance exam.

Outside of academics, students participate in extracurricular programs, take part in enrichment activities, complete community service, learn about other cultures as well as participate in leadership events.

The purpose of the programs is to increase the percentage of qualified high school students who enroll in college.  Each year data is collected from a national database reporting both percentages of students enrolled in college and percentages of students receiving financial aid for the Upward Bound Annual Performance Reports. Results of the Annual Performance Reports are compared to the initial goals for Upward Bound programs.

Communication Forum for Recruiting and Retaining International Students

Jenn Grove & Sheila Anders: ISA1120

The CIE received funding to develop a communication tool designed at connecting existing and prospective international students in blog form accessible through the CIE website. The blog allows students to post inquiries regarding admissions and programs at NAU in subject-appropriate forums to share with other students or for response from appropriate CIE staff. Assessment is based on tracking number of hits,  soliciting student feedback from within the blog and surveying student participation from incoming students.

Using Technology to Connect, Communicate, and Recruit New Students

Linda Esposit Enrollment Services

Using e-mail, blogs, MySpace, FaceBook as recruitment tools to connect with students and drive them to the university website, apply and sign up for visits and events on campus has helped to recruit students to attend the university.

STEP UP Engineering Camp: Pathway to Recruitment and Retention

Fonda Swimmer & Karen Jarratt-Ziemski: College of Engineering & Natural Sciences, Multicultural Engineering Program

After a pilot year in 2005, the STEP UP camp was fully implemented in summer 2006. Garnering support for the first ever NAU engineering camp for young women from on- and off-campus, camp participants are now graduating from their respective high schools. The authors will present information about the camp as a recruitment tool, results to date, and possibilities for retention as past campers become NAU students.

Implementation of the Automatic Payment Plan

Shannan Harding, Margaret Grove, & Ryan Hunt: Office of the Registrar

What is the Automatic Payment Plan?  How does it work?  Why has it been implemented at Northern Arizona University?  This poster presentation will answer these questions and explore future enhancements to the plan.  This display will also examine student feed back with regard to the implementation of this new policy.    

Student Life Program Review

Deborah Harris, Amanda Loveless, & Kevin Gemoets: Office of Student Life

The Office of Student Life has reviewed a number of the programs and support services we offer to students each academic year. Programs associated with child care, student conduct, student events and activities, student organizations, and various services offered to individual students were reviewed to analyze student participation and/or involvement.  Our presentation during the Assessment Fair will provide a general overview of these programs and the numbers of students served within each program.

Psychological Emergencies at NAU: Focus on Self-Injurious Behaviors

Bob Curry, PhD: Counseling and Testing Center

This study examines the use and users of the NAU's Counseling and Testing Center's Emergency Services. These services are available both during the work day at the CTC, and after-hours and on weekends via pager/telephone. Special attention is paid to the incidence and meaning of Self-Injurious Behaviors (SIB's) because this behavior is a relatively new and concerning event for many members of the University Community.

Nutrition Counseling Services at Fronske Health Center

Jo Cahill, MS, RD &  Jon Rudy, MS, RD: Fronske Health Promotions

Student awareness and usage of nutrition counseling services at Fronske Health Center during the 2006-2007 academic year was assessed.  Results of surveys from 3002 students indicated that about 48% of those surveyed recognized an array of healthy campus promotional materials.  Nutrition counseling increased approximately 4.6 fold over the previous academic year.  Weight management and eating disorders were the most frequently sought types of care.   Clients with eating disorders had the greatest frequency of follow-up care. 

Student Eating: Twinkies in the Fall to Broccoli & Carrots in the Spring?

Jon Rudy, MS, RD: Fronske Health Promotions

How healthfully do students think they eat? Does the decision to eat in a particular dining venue have a role in students choosing healthier foods? A recent survey asked students to compare and rate their eating from early in the fall semester to early in the spring semester.

Lifestyling, Dining and the NAU Student

Saba Sebhat, Casey Fisher, & Elizabeth Bohlke: NAU Dining

Sodexho and NAU dining know your customers best.  We take extreme measure to understand our customers and make fact-based decisions for your campus. Lifestyling is one of these tools we use. At the fair we will show how the lifestyling tool works, and how it has enabled us to make the right choices about changes we are going to make to Dining Services in the future.  We'll also share with you what those changes are going to be for Fall 07 and Fall 08.

Unions and Student Activities: Student Use of Services

Sada Gilbert: Unions and Student Activities

Unions and Student Activities will look at use of the AfterHours program.

Connection Leads to Collegiate Memories

Rhonda Powers & Christa Greseth: Campus Recreation Services

Campus Recreation Services offers diverse recreational based opportunities that contribute to the vibrancy of campus by broadening the “out of classroom” experience.  CRS administers a variety of satisfaction surveys annually regarding program participation.  These tools provide insight to a participants overall experience which may influence their decision to continue study at our institution and the value these programs play regarding their ability to connect, build rewarding relationships, and provide a means to assist in academic success.

SA Retention

Margot Saltonstall, Mary Radkiewicz, &  Maureen Doyle: Enrollment Management and Student Affairs

Over the last four years, Student Affairs has been able to comprehensively track student participation in six programs.  With these data, a review of percentages the freshman cohorts served is a possible as is a comparison of retention for those who participated in the services to the overall freshman cohorts.  This poster displays these participation and retention data.

RA Evaluation Binder

Maureen Doyle: Residence Life

After returning to utilizing Fall and Spring evaluation results for Resident Assistants on-campus, a resource has recently been created as a means of assisting RAs in implementing change based upon their evaluation results.  This poster offers an overview of the RA Evaluation Binder, as well as real-life examples of how it may be utilized.

STAR Peer Advising Assessment Project

Maureen Doyle: Multicultural Student Center

This assessment project sought to evaluate the effectiveness of the STAR Peer Advising program.  It includes both Peer Advisor and STAR student perspectives.

A Close Look at STAR Participants

Traci Harvey &  Mary Radkiewicz: STAR, EMSA Assessment

This poster examines the participants in the 2005 Successful Transition and Academic Readiness program.  The participants were analyzed by ethnic cohort.  Retention of these students was compared to the overall NAU rates and to the eight year averages of the same groups.

The Second Year Experience

LeAnne Jones: Residence Life

Second Year students are the second largest residential student population at Northern Arizona University. Currently the Office of Residence Life is in the process of developing and implementing the Second Year Experience program to meet the needs of this growing population. This poster will provide information about the demographics of residential second year students, data that has been collected, and recommendations for the future.

Trends in the 2005 Cohort of Native American Student Services Participants

Catherine Talakte & Mary Radkiewicz:  NASS, EMSA Assessment

The 2005 cohort of Native American Students that participated in NASS demonstrates several trends.  As displayed in this poster, NASS is serving an increasing number of students.  Also, freshman NASS participant retention has increased from the 2004 cohort.  This data is presented in this poster as well as other information and statistics from the 2005 cohort.

HAPA Hawaiian Club Retention Mentoring Project

Amy Websdale & Mei Ling Chun: Gerontology, ITS

Can mentoring make a difference in the retention of students thousands of miles away from their Pacific Rim Homes?  What is a spam musubi and does having one with another student from Hawaii reduce a student's feelings of isolation and homesickness?  Do opportunities for snowboarding, not surfing, or visiting the Grand Canyon, not the beach, help a student feel more integrated with NAU and the surrounding community and environment?

Developing Leaders through Retreats

Dwight Witherspoon: Native American Student Services

The "Developing Leaders Through Retreats" grant project was an attempt to increase the number of Native American students in leadership positions on campus: ASNAU, LAC tutors, Orientation Leaders, Graduate Assistants, Resident Assistants, and develop the Native American Club Officer's leadership skills. Poster looks at the percentages from last years base-line data and any change this year.

BackPack E-newsletter Survey

Jane Barber: EMSA

What concerns did parents and student talk about in fall 2006 This poster highlights the results of a brief end-of-term survey of the parents of current students.

Northern Arizona University Campuswide Supplemental Instruction Program -- Past Present and Future

Christine Burns & Craig Stern: Educational Support Programs

In 2005 the Task Force on the Freshman Year recognized Supplemental Instruction as a program that would positively impact courses with a combination of high enrollment and DFW rates.  This poster will outline the history of NAU-SI, provide data concerning program impact for the Fall 2006 semester, and propose further program development and expansion. We will compare GPAs, DFW rates, and retention of students participating in the NAU-SI program versus students who did not participate. 

DR Pilot program to Improve Retention

John Hammond & Jane Mulrooney: Disability Resources

Following the Fall 2006 semester students registered with Disability Resources were monitored during the Spring 2006 semester. Following regular meetings with DR Specialists and using on-campus resources GPA's were improved by 59% of the students that participated.

Possible causes of DFWs in gateway business, math, and science courses

Benford, R. & Gess-Newsome, J.:Center for Science Teaching and Learning

Students in gateway courses receive DFWs at high rates.  To investigate why, a survey was administered in 7 courses, institutional data were collected on 15 courses, data on schools where students originated were collected, and course instructional styles were characterized.  Data were analyzed for trends in DFW rates, gender, and ethnicity.  Results suggest that possible causes of DFWs are inadequate recruitment standards, academic under preparedness, lack of cultural diversity, and ineffective instruction.  Possible interventions are discussed.

A Trinity of Learning Assessment: Daily, Project, and Overall

Mary R. Reid: Geology

Student engagement and instructor satisfaction can be enhanced by incorporating frequent, often cooperative, learning-centered activities.  Some assessment results, obtained for my upper division and graduate course in conjunction with my participation in two Faculty Development projects, are the following: 1) student interest in the subject increases (overall course assessment); 2) student learning is informed by peer-to-peer teaching (project-specific assessment) and 3) students are engaged in the course subject and discussions (near-daily assessment).

How to Evaluate and Encourage Quality in Degree-Program Assessment Plans

Tom Paradis & Zhong Chen: Office of Academic Assessment

How can we assess the quality of degree-program assessment plans over time at NAU? What factors have encouraged high-quality plans in recent years? We answer both questions based on a significant improvement of plans since 2005, through an analysis of rubrics scored by the University Assessment Committee. Factors included a combination of mini-grant funds, increased faculty engagement, departmental consulting visits, and on-campus workshops.

Reflective Journaling: Nursing Student Views

Caroline R. Ellermann & Rosalinda Haddon: School of Nursing

The purpose of this research was to clarify students’ understanding and the utility of reflective journaling assignments. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered from three cohorts of nursing students in the last semester of their program. Results indicate that students had experiences related to understanding self behavior, identifying feelings, for problem solving, for developing thinking and for building connections between knowledge and practice.  Restructured assignments further improved the benefit of reflective journaling significantly.

Program Assessment in Chemistry: Two Student-learning Outcomes

Cynthia J. Hartzell, Brandon J. Cruickshank, & Marin S. Robinson: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Significantly revised plans for Degree Program Assessment of Student Learning in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry were submitted to the OAA in Spring 2006. These plans centered on the evaluation of five student-learning outcomes derived from the department mission and goals. Over the last year, two learning outcomes were evaluated in select courses: 1. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the theoretical basis of chemistry. 2. Students will demonstrate the development of written communication skills. A Senior Questionnaire provided indirect evidence of student perception regarding achievement of these outcomes. Responses to the questionnaire painted a positive picture of the learning environment within the Department.

The INS and OUTS of School Finance

Nancy Schilling, Ph.D.:Educational Leadership

The purpose of this project was to gain students' perspectives about the use of the Socratic Seminar to further their understanding about school finance. The findings indicate that both the art of skillful questioning and the ability to support opinion with textual references were the most useful variables from the seminar. Other variables were less useful but contributed to the overall enhancement of the understanding of the content of school finance.

An Assessment of NAU Faculty Approaches to Teaching and Attitudes Towards Student Learning

Laura Umphrey & Susana Mills: Communication and Modern Languages

This poster session presents the results of a faculty assessment conducted in the fall, 2006 as part of an E-Learning grant.  Mountain campus faculty were sent a survey that examined approaches to teaching (Trigwell & Prosser, 2004) and attitudes towards student learning. The results will help us understand faculty attitudes which can aid in the development of workshops to enhance the learning experience for students in the classroom.

Making the Difference That Matters: Increasing Undergraduate and Faculty Involvement in Undergraduate Research Experience

Heidi A. Wayment: Psychology

A simple, yet effective, restructuring of how the Department of Psychology advertises PSY 485 (Undergraduate Research Experience) to students has had a significant impact on the number of students participating in faculty-led research as well as departmental support of the teacher-scholar model for tenure-track faculty.  Through a variety of mechanisms, undergraduate students receive information about PSY 485 "early and often," faculty advertise their research opportunities to all students, and students have more equitable access to participating faculty.

Redesigning Introduction to Psychology: Innovations and Impacts

Michelle Miller & Heidi A. Wayment: Psychology

Psychology 101 is NAU's seventh largest course, attracting students not only from the psychology major but also a wide variety of other programs. We assessed the impact of efforts to create an engaging, academically challenging experience within the setting of a large, multi-section course, using both qualitative and quantitative approaches to measure gains in student knowledge, impact of course enhancements on student performance, and student opinions of different aspects of the redesigned course.

Using Brief Assessments in the Classroom: Increasing Departmental and Student Awareness

Heidi A. Wayment: Psychology

Results from Psychology's one-page advising assessment to all students in two required courses for the psychology major: PSY 230 (Psychological Statistics) and PSY 302w (Research Methods in Psychology), will be presented.  Data obtained from this assessment (3 semesters thus far) guides departmental understanding of who is taking these important courses and when, advising history, awareness of research opportunities, exposure to departmental website and newsletters, and students' suggestions about how the department could best help them.

Assessing Student Understanding in Large Lectures Using Clickers

Mark James, Gary Fitt, Federica Barbieri, & Paula Garcia: Department of Physics and Astronomy/CENS

Assessment practices of instructors utilizing clickers in large enrollment college science courses have a significant impact on the peer discourse which occurs when students discuss their ideas.  It was found that in classrooms with high stakes grading, students with more knowledge tend to be more dominant in peer conversations.  Conversation partners in high stakes classrooms tend to respond to clicker questions with the dominant student's response, rather than each individual responding with their own idea.

ACG and SMART Grant correlation to GPA compared to those receiving just PELL

James McDonald: Financial Aid

I will be comparing the GPA of those receiving just the PELL grant to those receiving PELL and either ACG or SMART grants.

Student Readiness Inventory and STAR students

Hilda Ladner:  Multicultural Student Center

STAR 2006 students took the Student Readiness Inventory (SRI) and are in the Rapid Alert Program (RAP).  These data will show the number of students that were predicted to encounter academic difficulty on the SRI and compare that to those that did encounter academic difficulties as reported on RAP.  We will also show how information from the SRI was used to develop programming for this student population and participation numbers in programs and individual meetings.

Northern Arizona University Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity - Supplemental Instruction: Past, Present and Future

Michael M. Merica, Kristine J. Olson, Daniele J. Riendeau, Craig Stern, & Lon Owen: Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity – Supplemental Instruction

The Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity – Supplemental Instruction (SI) program (IMSD-SI) is a Northern Arizona University (NAU) program funded by the National Institute of Health (R25  GM056931-09). The goal of the program is to promote academic performance and retain student enrollment at the university. The MSD-SI program seeks to provide academic assistance to all students enrolled in targeted 100 and 200 level Biology and Chemistry courses that have historically high rates Ds, Fs, or Withdrawals (DFW rate).

The IMSD-SI program has been in operation at NAU since Fall of 1999. The presentation poster will outline the history of IMSD-SI, provide data concerning program impact for the most recent semester (Fall 2006), and propose plans related to further program development. We will compare GPAs, DFW rates, and retention of students participating in the IMSD-SI program versus students who did not participate. We will also highlight general demographics of students who have participated in IMSD-SI sessions.

Ethnic-Racial Humor and Its Affects on Building Community in the Residence Halls

Michael Butcher: Residence Life

This survey was administered to Resident Assistants at NAU and the College of Charleston and asked about their perspective and experience on the benefits and challenges of ethnic-racial humor in the residence halls.  The data provided an opportunity to see whether ethnic-racial humor can be used to create/tear down individual/group relationships.  As diversity is an important initiative, the hope is that the survey data will provide resources that will create a better living/learning environment.

Distance Learning Student Satisfaction Survey

Blanche Johnson: NAU Distance Learning

During the Fall 06 term, Distance Learning worked with the NAU Social Research Laboratory to administer the second annual Student Satisfaction Survey to Distance Learning students.  The survey focused on five areas; Campus Service, Advising, Classes & Schedule, Online Access, and Students.  Results of this year’s survey will be presented along with highlights of changes since the Fall 05, as well as analyses of the differences for Rural, Urban, and Online students.

Quality of Life Satisfaction Survey   

Megan Gavin & Alicia Piotrowski: Residence Life

“Quality of Life” is a web-based satisfaction survey administered each spring to the on-campus resident population. Results obtained from the survey are used both annually and longitudinally to assess the fulfillment of Office of Residence Life department, area, and hall goals; to identify areas of needed improvements; and generally to inform NAU students, staff, faculty, and administrators about university housing.

“Do you plan to live on campus next year?”: Linking  the Quality of Life Satisfaction Survey with Freshmen Retention 

Megan Gavin: Residence Life

The results from a 2006 Quality of Life survey item, “Do you plan to live on campus next year?”, were compared to the 2005 Official FTFT cohort’s first-year retention rates. This poster will present first-year retention data for on-campus residents who responded to the survey, on-campus residents who did not respond to the survey, and the Official Off-Campus cohort. Additionally, results from the same item on the 2007 Quality of Life survey will be presented.

Freshmen Retention & Graduation Tracking Project

Megan Gavin & Alicia Piotrowski: Residence Life

The Freshmen Retention & Graduation Tracking Project is an annual fall assessment of freshmen retention through graduation. Freshmen NAU-Mt. Campus students who begin their college career by either living in Freshman Connections (FC) halls, Non-FC halls, or off-campus are tracked and compared. The results inform the Office of Residence Life as to how its efforts may affect freshmen retention rates.

The Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA): Northern Arizona University's Results

Kathleen McBride & Thomas Paradis: Office of Academic Assessment

We report here on findings of the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) at NAU. The CLA focuses on the value added provided by colleges and universities with respect to three learning outcomes: critical thinking, analytic reasoning, and written communication. A sample of 346 NAU freshmen performed nearly average on the CLA compared to other institutions on all three skills. A comparative group of “native” NAU seniors was tested during spring, 2006.  The data are presented here.

The President's Recruitment and Retention Grants: Analysis of Recruitment and Retention

Mary Radkiewicz & Margot Saltonstall: EMSA Assessment

This project looked at the President's Recruitment and Retention Grant Programs in 2003, 2004, and 2005.  Retention and Graduation rates of the participants were analyzed and compared to the overall NAU Rates by cohort.  This poster displays the results of this comparison providing data on the effects of participation in these programs.

Celebrate NAU--Northern Arizona University's 10-year Comprehensive Review

Becky Butcher, Stephanie McCarthy, & Wally Nolan: Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies, E-Learning

Northern Arizona University is gearing up for its 10-year comprehensive review for re-accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) of the North Central Association (NCA) for Colleges and Schools.  This poster presents the five criteria used to evaluate NAU as well as the key points from the campus-wide online course developed to acquaint the campus community about the accreditation process.  For the self study process a database was created, documenting institutional capacities for the five criteria and will serve as a virtual resource room for the site team visit scheduled for October 22-24, 2007.

A comparison of Paper and Pencil vs. Online Student Evaluations

Steven Funk, Ph.D.: Psychology

In this study I tested for changes in response rates and student's evaluations resulting from a natural experiment - the change from in class to online evaluations.  I examined students' ratings from all psychology courses during 2004 and 2005.  Response rates changed significantly, and some student ratings changed.  Changes in ratings were associated with course level (e.g., 200 v. 400 level courses) and with the type of course being evaluated (e.g., electives v. required courses).

Year in numbers

 Kat Benson & Eva Hatchner: Planning and Institutional Research

The poster will present interesting findings from the 2006 CIRP Freshman survey and the 2006 graduating senior survey as well as a glance at NAU's educational revenue breakdown and students' geodistribution
 

Anatomy of a Standards Based Rubric

Cynthia Conn, Paul Alley, & Kathy Hildebrand: NAU's Professional Education Unit

Rubrics offer many benefits both for faculty and students including assisting with clearly communicating assignment expectations to students and improving consistency of grading.  Rubrics can also be used as a program level assessment instrument for collecting data regarding course embedded assignments.  By aligning rubric rows to discipline standards, reports can be generated that document student performance.  This poster will outline the process for developing a standards based rubric, and provide examples from degree programs within NAU’s Professional Education Unit.

From Rubric to Data using Electronic Portfolios

Kathy Hildebrand, Cynthia Conn, & Paul Alley: College of Education

The college of education relies heavily on the use of electronic portfolios for deploying standardized assessment rubrics used for programmatic and individual assessment.  This project will detail the process of rubric-based assessment using TaskStream electronic portfolio software, from deploying rubrics in standards-based portfolios to collecting and analyzing programmatic assessment data for accreditation and continuous improvement.

The NAU Professional Education Unit Assessment System Model

Kathy Hildebrand, Cynthia Conn, & Paul Alley: NAU Professional Education Unit

Conceptual frameworks are worthwhile living documents only as they are operationalized.  A program's assessment system provides the structure for putting the conceptual framework components and constructs into action.  The Professional Education Unit at Northern Arizona University is implementing such an assessment system.  The graphic model of this system illustrates the relationships among the Unit's guiding image, mission, values and goals and how these constructs are operationalized by the Unit's assessment plan. 

Building the Greater Flagstaff Region’s Workforce through Knowledge, Innovation, and Action

Roger Ingbretsen, Ingbretsen Consulting, LLC: Business Retention & Expansion

The Greater Flagstaff Economic Council commissioned a study to identify the workforce issues that the manufacturing and health care industries currently face, and will likely face in the future. A large component of the data gathering for this study came from the NAU student population. Among other things, the study found that a relatively small percentage of NAU students plan to stay in the local area and that young people see the cost of living, lack of affordable housing, and lack of job opportunities as major barriers for entering the local workforce. This poster will provide a detailed look at the study outcomes and suggested solutions to solve the issues.