Indirect Assessment

In addition to external assessment reports, the University systematically collects feedback from faculty, staff, students and alumni and triangulates findings across instruments to document mission, vision and Strategic Plan achievements and to point to areas in need of improvement.

Faculty and staff are surveyed triennially regarding their satisfaction with recruitment, workload, professional development, evaluation, governance, planning, administrative units, campus climate and core values.  Specific questions related to the core values are included as institutional effectiveness indicators. 

Five instruments are used to assess student satisfaction:  student course evaluations, the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), and the Noel Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory (SSI).  Student course evaluations are administered in the fall and spring semesters.  The internally developed course evaluation instrument collects student opinions on general education goals as well as overall satisfaction with instruction.  The NSSE survey is administered every three years to evaluate BSU’s undergraduate experience inside and outside the classroom and to identify areas for improvement.  The Noel-Levitz SSI survey gathers feedback from both undergraduate and graduate students on many factors that shape the student experience.  Both NSSE and SSI provide benchmark or scale measures that are nationally normed.  Two additional surveys are administered for the purpose of assessing the overall effectiveness of BSU’s programs.  Graduating students are surveyed each term to gather timely feedback on their experiences.  BSU also follows up on bachelor’s degree recipients one year after graduation.

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