Here at KCTCS we are not only on tight budgets, but most also do not have instructional designers to help create content. Content creation and conversion is left up to the instructor. Therefore, we've found several free, easy to use tools to create content for our online courses. These software range from image creation and manipulation to sound creation and editing to video creation and interactive activities for students. Instructors have embraced the technology and created some excellent content for their online courses. Many institutions have tight budgets and can't provide high end tools for creating online content. Did you know there are several free tools that can help? You can create graphics, video tutorials, sound files and learning activities all for free.

The University of Louisville (UofL) administered the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) every two years since 2001 and completed the administration of the 2009 NSSE last spring. In past years, UofL has not been able to fully utilize the survey results to effect meaningful change as the university struggled to achieve a representative student sample. An increase in students' participation was deemed critical. A multi-disciplinary workgroup of faculty, administrators and staff was formed to develop a comprehensive marketing plan that utilized print, web, and outdoor materials aimed at building student awareness of the NSSE and offered great prizes as incentives for completing the survey. The marketing plan was extremely successful. This year UofL increased the number of students responding to the 2009 NSSE survey and more than doubled our response rate to over 31% compared to only 15% in 2007. UofL was able to obtain a more representative student sample. As a result, the university is in a better position to critically analyze our student engagement data even at the academic unit level. Students completing the NSSE received a follow-up survey to evaluate the effectiveness of the marketing campaign and the impact it had on their participation with the NSSE.

A comprehensive, campus-wide student learning outcomes assessment initiative requires education and information sharing at all levels to ensure faculty buy-in and an understanding of the value added from learing outcomes assessment. The University of Kentucky has instituted a two-tiered approach to cultivating support and integration of outcomes assessment - one tier at the college level and one at the larger university-wide level. Assessment plan inventories and local data gathering tools will be shared with the participants as a means to capture consistent data in a way that "makes sense" to faculty and is relevant across disciplines and colleges. A portfolio of workshops offered at the university-wide level will also be shared as a means to identify topics that are confusing and to focus on the facets of a successful outcomes assessment process.

In spring 2009, the President's Commission on Diversity and the Office of Institutional Research, Planning and Effectiveness administered the University of Kentucky's second Campus Climate Survey. Adapted from various constructs in the literature, this online questionnaire was designed to assess the climate for learning for students from different demographic backgrounds. The survey instrument measured many facets of the campus learning environment, including: students' openness to diversity, perceptions of disparate treatment, frequency of interactions with diverse students, and the welcoming environment on campus. All minority students and a sample of white students were invited to participate in this survey. Nearly 2,900 students completed the online form, and the overall response rate was 28 percent. The results of this survey were analyzed by students' race/ethnicity, gender, and classification. The survey findings will be released to the campus community in fall 2009.