Students have been selected randomly on Ball State University's campus to take part in a survey in an e-mail titled "End of the year assessment."
Educational Benchmarking Inc., an institution that conducts surveys for universities and other institutions, is conducting the current survey through Ball State e-mail.
The study is targeted on students' perception of the quality of their educational experience for the greater good, Joseph Pica, president and CEO of Educational Benchmarking Inc., said.
"If you just ask students what they like and don't like, then you'll just get a list of 'I like this and I don't like that,'" Pica said. "Students' perception of what they don't like may not be all that important to them. We group our questions around content areas because that way, they will be more powerful representations of the main idea than single questions."
The month-long assessment will consist of questions regarding students' relationships with faculty, their academic activity and participation with groups on campus. What really matters are the things that are most important to students, not necessarily what they like and don't like. Pica said.
"We would rather focus on improving what really matters," Pica said. "In this assessment, we'll find how students perceive their college experiences statistically so that we can say what is really important to students."
The survey will be open until the end of April. The students selected can respond any time between now and then.
"This survey focuses on student experiences and outcomes," Sherry Woosley, associate director of Institutional Effectiveness, said. "In other words, we're asking students to reflect on their experiences and tell us about what they have gotten out of those experiences. That combination is powerful and important to our campus improvement efforts. This is also a great opportunity for students to give feedback and make an impact on the future of Ball State."
Until the survey is complete, the university won't be able to say how the results may impact the decision making in the different departments on campus, Woosley said.
"If we get enough responses from students to ensure that our results are valid, then we will share the results broadly with campus," Woosley said. "Results will go to a variety of areas and to people who are responsible for academic and co-curricular programs and activities. Clearly, as an institution, we want to build on strengths and improve where we can."
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