IU Kokomo

The College Inventory: What IUK learned about its students

To learn as much as it could about this year's freshman class, IUK turned to the Noel-Levitz College Student Inventory to measure dropout proneness, predicted academic difficulty, educational stress, receptivity to institutional help, academic motivation and social motivation, general coping abilities, receptivity to support services and initial impressions of IUK.

During the first week of fall semester, the CSI was administered to more than 400 new students enrolled in Freshman Seminar. Within a few days, the results were analyzed, and IUK had new and powerful data it could use in addressing the needs of its newest students.

Here is what was learned:

The freshmen came from high schools where the mean graduating class size was 220.5.
The majority were members of a high school athletic team or were active in intramural sports.
Seventy percent live with their parents.
Slightly more than 74 percent believe their perceptions about the level of IUK's academic standards (too hard/too easy) were accurate.
Students' top two areas of satisfaction in terms of their initial impression of IUK were appearance of the buildings and grounds and IUK's location.
Students' top two areas of concern were the lack of intercollegiate athletics and on-campus entertainment.
Students' top 10 priority areas in which they want help are exam skills; study habits; information about occupations, occupational qualifications and the job market; help in selecting an academic program; writing skills; meeting new friends; tutoring in a selected area; reading and basic math skills; and information on student activities.

Interestingly, there were significant differences between male and female scores in eight areas. The CSI showed that male freshmen at IUK are more dropout prone, expect more academic difficulty, have poorer study habits, express less intellectual curiosity, have less desire to finish college, have a more negative attitude towards educators, are less open and have a less positive first impression of IUK.

To capitalize on the CSI, IUK shared both group data and data on each student with all its Freshman Seminar instructors. All 18 of IUK's Freshman Seminar instructors met individually with each of their students to discuss the CSI results. Instructors and students then jointly identified the top two or three areas in which students needed the most help, and a follow-up referral process was established to be certain students sought and received the help.

Results of the CSI also were shared with IUK faculty who teach freshman-level courses and with academic advisors to freshmen who enrolled for the first time this fall.

"We now know more about our freshmen than ever before," says Mahmoud Saffari, assistant vice chancellor for undergraduate education. "Now it is up to us to take that information and make the most of it."

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