The Evidence-based Change (EBC) focus area aims to become a leading research centre in the area of evidence-based change in learning and teaching to further scholarship, student engagement and success.
Projects:
1. South African Surveys of Student Engagement (SASSE)
Overview:
Student engagement is defined by two key concepts; first, what students do (the time and energy they devote to educationally purposeful activities), and second, what institutions do (the extent to which institutions create environments for students to engage in effective educational practices).
One of the primary applications of student engagement data is improving the quality of teaching and learning in higher education.
The engagement surveys consist of three institutional-level surveys, the BUSSE, SASSE and LSSE; as well as the CLASSE, which is administered on a modular level to identify gaps between students and lecturers’ valued engagement practices for a specific module.
| Institutional | BUSSE | Beginning University Survey of Student Engagement | First-time entering first-year students (administration February-March) |
| SASSE | South African Survey of Student Engagement | Undergraduate students (administration August-September) |
| LSSE | Lecturer Survey of Student Engagement | Lecturers (administration August-September) |
| Module/course | CLASSE | CLASSE-Student: Classroom Survey of Student Engagement | Administration within six weeks of commencement of classes |
| CLASSE-Lecturer: Classroom Survey of Student Engagement | Administration within six weeks of commencement of classes |
Among the greatest benefits of student engagement surveys are that they promote critical, internal self-reflection and reflective accountability, provide institutions with information about issues that they can focus on, and enable them to gather data systematically in order to develop interventions within the parameters of their own missions.
Read more:
http://www.ufs.ac.za/sasse
Contacts: Ms Jodine van Wyk vanwykje@ufs.ac.za;
Ms Hanle Posthumus posthumushs@ufs.ac.za;
Dr Sonja Loots lootss@ufs.ac.za
2. Other contributions to evidence-based practice:
The University of the Free State forms part of the Kresge Foundation funded Siyaphumelela project (https://siyaphumelela.org.za/), which focuses on promoting data analytics in South African higher education institutions. The EBC plays a central role in developing data analytics (including learning- and predictive analytics; early warning systems; a case management system for advising; etc.) to promote student success.
The EBC also contributes to institutional policy and practice through providing decision makers with SASSE and other data sources.
Contact: Mr Rohan Posthumus: posthumusjj@ufs.ac.za
3. Information and resource centre
The EBC manages a teaching and learning library as well as conducting electronic information and resource searches as a service.
Contact: Ms Limpho Seoka: seokaml@ufs.ac.za
4. Key recent publications
Strydom, J., Kuh, G., & Loots, S. (eds.) 2017. Engaging students: Using evidence to promote student success. Bloemfontein: SunPress (click here).
Universities South Africa. 2018. Report series with SASSE on Understanding Students.