Recently, there was a proposition to change the time of activity hour. Provost Lawrence Frank proposed changing activity hour from the current 1:40pm-2:40pm to a new time of 3pm-4pm. This was proposed so that seventy more classes could be fit into the time period, which is said to help increase the four-year graduation rate.
The inspiration for this change came from the recent National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) report. This report is only administered to freshmen and certain seniors. It polls about 400 freshmen and about 400 seniors who are expected to graduate in the near future.
This report measures what are considered to be major “educational benchmarks” within a four-year institution. These educational benchmarks are focused on academic, environmental, and social aspects of education. They are all measured on a subjective scale with the scores determined by the student’s answers.
The results of the NSSE report were presented at the Student Government Association meeting on Dec. 1. The results were compared against other four-year institutions that share similarities with NEIU, such as being a commuter campus. What the results showed was that NEIU is slightly above our peer schools in the educational benchmarks for freshmen students.
However, when it came to graduating seniors, Northeastern Illinois University’s results were significantly lower than their peers. This is posed as a problem for student involvement as well as engagement.
During the open forum period of the meeting there was a discussion of what the activity hour change will mean to students and when it will be enacted. Unfortunately, Provost Lawrence Frank was not present at the meeting to answer any questions.
Both sides discussed points for and against the activity hour change. The SGA mentioned that there was discussion of a student survey possibly being released in the spring semester in response to this change. The actual change itself will take place in the fall 2010 semester, if it becomes official.
If students have any questions about this proposed change, they should contact Provost Lawrence Frank or a representative of the SGA.