PSOL Strengths for Lake Superior College

Our 2006 Institutional report for the Noel-Levitz PSOL identified the following strengths for LSC Online (listed in rank order beginning with the strongest item).

I’ve had a few discussions with Noel-Levitz representatives about how I think the “strengths” need to be redefined. Right now the strengths are what I would call “internal strengths,” without considering whether they are strengths in the larger context of the e-learning environment, or at least of the schools that have used this instrument.

• 11. Student assignments are clearly defined in the syllabus.
• 18. Registration for online courses is convenient.
• 33. Logging-in (managing usernames and passwords) for various services across the campus is easy and consistent. (Campus item 7)
• 6. Tuition paid is a worthwhile investment.
• 25. Faculty are responsive to student needs.
• 7. Program requirements are clear and reasonable.
• 3. Instructional materials are appropriate for program content. **
• 23. Billing and payment procedures are convenient for me.
• 13. The frequency of student and instructor interactions is adequate.

** Note: I am not willing to consider this a strength since our satisfaction score is slightly below (-.03) the national average for this item. Strengths are defined as those items above the mid-point in importance and in the top quartile of satisfaction, for your institution only. In other words, it is possible to have something identified as a strength when it is not a very favorable score, such as falling below the national average. I have a hard time seeing that as a strength. To really consider something as a strength, I believe that it must be both an internal strength (as defined by Noel-Levitz) and an external strength which means that it exceeds the performance level of the national group or preferably it exceeds the performance of a peer group (as defined by me).

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