Faculty and administrators at postsecondary institutions continue to grapple with understanding the dynamic nature of student activism. In response, the National Survey of Student Engagement administered a supplemental item set following the 2016 presidential election, in which more than 3,000 respondents were asked about their involvement in…

This paper details the results of a mixed-methods study of first-year and upper-division students' information literacy (IL) competencies. The study used a rubric and a survey, seeking to answer two research questions: (1) Is there a correlation between National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) IL survey responses and IL rubric scores? (2) Are…

With university mission statements focused on preparing emerging adult students for globally inclusive professional careers, moral and leadership development has become a central focus of many colleges and universities (Bass, 1991; Binghamton University, 2016; Zimmerman-Oster & Burkhardt, 1999). Colleges and universities utilize interactions…

Many higher education studies have examined linear relationships between student experiences and outcomes, but this assumption may be questionable. In two notable examples previous research that assumed a linear relationship reached different substantive conclusions and implications than did research that explored non-linear associations among the…

Preparing students to be engaged participants in our democratic society has long been an important college outcome. Over the past few decades, postsecondary institutions have primarily attempted to improve civic outcomes by integrating service activities into their curricula. While research on the effects of service-learning are plentiful,…

While the importance of institutional mission is acknowledged within the higher education community, there is a lack of empirical evidence investigating how missions are experienced. Using survey data from students and faculty, this study investigates perceptions of mission engagement at religiously affiliated and independent institutions.…

Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is often seen to be constraining and focused on specific skill development for specific occupations. This goal is at odds with the demands of a knowledge economy that requires more general educational outcomes for an uncertain and unpredictable labour market. For this reason, Hui (2012) has…

For many institutions devoted to their mission, especially those that state as their goal the promotion of character development, the need for measurement tools becomes a priority. These tools can by used not only to assess the stated outcomes, but also to guide institutional policies, practices, and improvements. The purpose of this study is to…

Using data from the Wabash National Study, authors examine how students' perceptions of campus climate influence growth in students' social and political activism. The goal of this article is to determine to what extent, if any, students' perceptions of the campus environment affect their orientation toward social/political activism over 4 years…

Though much research has been conducted about the factors that contribute to overall college student success, little research has been conducted which ties self-efficacy, career focus, and a critical third variable, sense of life calling or purpose to race or ethnicity and the relationship of college classification to this topic. Specifically, the…

Most institutional research (IR) practitioners lack access to direct measures of longitudinal student learning, let alone assessment instruments systematically embedded into the curriculum that yield representative cognitive gain data controlling for student motivation. Typically, measures of student learning growth rest on findings from survey…

Since its founding in 1875, Brigham Young University (BYU) has served a mission defined by its sponsoring institution which includes elements of character and spirituality (affective domain) in addition to the intellectual (cognitive domain). However, it is only since the establishment of the Office of Institutional Assessment and Analysis…

Understanding the developmental issues first-time college students face is critical for scholars and educators interested in learning and development. This purpose of this study was to investigate the differential impact of first-year college experiences on the moral reasoning development of 1,469 students in moral transition versus those in moral…

The authors examine the college conditions that contribute to character development, using data from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). (Contains 4 tables and 5 figures.)