WASC Accreditation :: Index Card Exercise

Sets of words were obtained from 535 undergrads and 202 graduate students. This produced a total of 2,211 words. Overall, 2/3 provided a set of words that reflect a positive yet challenging experience.

The 535 sets from undergraduates were distributed as follows: 23% positive, 29% blended: positive/negative, 47% negative. The distribution for graduate students was: 55% positive, 23% blended: positive/negative, 22% negative.

What follows are samples of the actual word sets from students grouped in the categories:

Undergraduate & Graduate Students - Positive Examples

Undergraduate Students			Graduate Students
Challenging	meaningful	encouraging	Intensive	focused	challenging
Excellent	challenging	comprehensive	Enlightening	joyful	community
Comprehensive	challenging	student-focused	Political	challenged	encouraged
Rigorous	challenging	inspiring	Experience	learning	growth
Challenging	comprehensive	amazing	Fascinating	engrossing	engaging
Programmatic	applicable	challenging	Good	school
Challenging	enhances personal and professional growth	excellent	Informative	educational	enlightening
Interesting	developing	relevant	Educational	supportive	informative
Growth	responsibility	determined	Happy	fulfilling	challenging
Educational	compact	enjoy	Positive	enriching	knowledge
Interesting	entertaining	educating	Productive	intense	comprehensive
Enjoyable	comfortable	friendly	Informative	fun	practical
Stimulating	interesting	fulfilling	Professionalism	enriching	educational
Educational	growth	friendships	Supportive	productive	beneficial
Diverse life	evaluating	challenging	Active	busy	fun
Rewarding	challenging	liberating	Affordability	diversity
Rewarding	useful	educational	Broad	diverse	motivating
Made me a better person	uplifting	challenging	Challenging	good	flexible
Collaborative	enlightening	constructive	Fun	challenging	rewarding
Group projects	encouragement	peer support	Positive	adjustable	non-competitive
Comprehensive	challenging	supportive	Excellent	diverse	profound
Comprehensive	group learning	adult learning	Useful	interesting	positive

Undergraduate & Graduate Students - Blended (Positive/Negative) Examples

Undergraduate Students			Graduate Students
Supportive faculty	competence	crowded classes	intense	tiring	exciting
Challenging	stressful	wonderful	Surprised	pleased	frustrated
Rewarding	challenging	bureaucratic	Intense	rewarding	frustrating
Challenging	anxiety provoking	supportive	Positive	challenging	scarcity
Challenging	exciting	limited	Long-duration	professional	stimulating
Challenging	stressful	empowering	Frustrating	successful	knowledgeable
Difficult	challenged	happy	Interesting	time consuming	challenging
Challenge	fulfillment	hard work	Enlightening	frustrating	self-awareness
Interesting	frustrating	challenging	Infuriation	teaching	tolerance
Welcoming	frustrating	exciting	Productive	convenient	expensive (out of state)
Different (compared to other colleges)	stressful	safe	Stressful	challenging	rewarding
Bureaucracy	thorough	well respected	Educative	disconnected	positive
Stressful	program focused	group participant	Frustrating	economic	diverse
Opportunity	challenging	isolated	Educational	slow	informative
Challenging	life-altering	overwhelming	Convenient	economical	rushed
Jam-packed	active	intense	Frustrating	challenging	fulfilling
Anticlimactic	educational	do-able	New	busy	unsure
Positive	intense	stressful	Anxious	excited	eager
Supportive	confusing	training	Good	convenience	expensive
Insightful	thought provoking	confining	Enlightening	long	rigorous
Educational	bureaucratic	interesting	Stimulating	stressful	enlightening
Encouraging	difficult	helpful	Rewarding	frustrating (administration)	useful

Undergraduate & Graduate Students - Negative Examples

Undergraduate Students			Graduate Students
Hard	first year horrible		Frustrated	energized	resigned
Expensive textbooks			Exciting	expensive parking	disappointing
Difficult	unnerving	not friendly	Expensive	stressful	learning
Frustration	patience	too much construction	Long	frustrating	rewarding
Frustrating	expensive	personally trying	Stressful	welcoming	haphazard
Fun	stressful	crowded	Expensive	consuming	uneventful
Frustrating	stressful	enriching	Challenged	aggravating	hectic
Frustrating	difficult	vague	Stressful	confusing	optimistic
Tired	hard	complicated	Loud	open	expensive
Frustrating	non-challenging		Frustrated	unorganized	very life like
Easy	disappointing	boring	Frustration	stressed	tired
Disappointing	frustrating	ineffective	Long	educational	hard
Dissatisfaction	frustration	stress	Costly	educational	time consuming
Student-friendly	predictable	expensive parking	Thought-provoking	limited	costly
Frustrating	hard-to get classes	crowded	Frustrating	disappointing	unsupportive
Difficult	confusing	unfriendly	Irritating	red-tape	under funded
Stressed out	ignored		Frustrating	time-consuming
Frustration	disorganized	angry	Crowded	helpful	unorganized
Frustration	conformity	disappointment	Inconvenient	frustrating	enlightening (in class)
Frustrated	abandoned	disappointed	Unhelpful	disorganized	educational
Challenging	haphazard	harrowing	Less rigor	laidback	unconcerned
Stressful	angry	excited	Stressed	concerned	informed

Data From Query Related to 'One Thing You'd want WASC to Know'

As part of the index card exercise students were asked to write down the one thing they would want the visiting team from WASC to know about the University. Below are examples of the comments received.

San Jose State University is one school that gives out some of the most difficult to obtain degrees in science, engineering, and allied health.

The grading and tests do not follow lectures very well. Level of instruction is average to below average for some classes.

While encouraging diversity, many students are being allowed into upper division classes without the proper basic skill knowledge (English and Math especially) which causes me great frustration; for I have worked hard to pass those classes and others are getting a free ride through them.

It’s challenging and stressful in order to get good grades. It’s not hard to get in the school, but getting As are not easy at all. Work very hard!!!

It is very difficult to get through school in 4 years

I recommend to accreditation team to evaluate graduate classes’ semester projects for excellence with source code, technical challenge, and class reports/presentations

This is a university that emphasizes academic excellence

Academic integrity

Make the upper division GE classes harder

Everyone smart, dumb, rich, poor, etc can get into SJSU (easy, bad facilities)

We may not pay as much tuition as Stanford or Berkeley, but we’re getting the same education, if not a better education! SJSU has not only strong academics, but a strong sense of community as well.

Qualitative Analysis of Responses to Index Card Exercise From Current Undergraduate and Graduate Students

Data From 3-word Exercise

Data From Query Related to 'One Thing You'd want WASC to Know'