Uses of PEEK Data

For each student, PEEK data provides the baseline information needed to adjust successfully to new situations and circumstances.

• Increasing Student Awareness

  Examining, confronting, clarifying, and reconsidering ones own perceptions will help a student become more aware of his/her expectations about college. This increased awareness can alert the student to possible problem areas and encourage an exploration of any inconsistencies. The first step in correcting misperceptions is to know they exist.

• Using PEEK Results in Counseling Situations

  Students whose perceptions and expectations appear to be somewhat inconsistent with those of the institution, are likely to benefit from counseling that explores those inconsistencies.

• Using PEEK Results in a Freshman Seminar Course or Program

  Individual PEEK results can be used in Freshman Seminar Courses or Programs to generate valuable discussions aimed at developing better ideas of what attending college will be like. Depending on individual PEEK responses, the instructor could adapt the curriculum to meet the needs of the class. Success in school is not simply a result of possessing good reading, math, writing, and study skills. Many students leave higher education because of a mismatch between their expectations and the realities that confront them. Examining these expectations and correcting possible inconsistencies or mismatches with the institution can significantly effect retention.

Using PEEK to Help the Institution Better Serve Its Students

PEEK data can be used by every professional member of the academic community. The most important way to use these data is to get faculty and staff talking about and understanding the incoming or current class of students on campus. This descriptive information can be used to generate many discussions about how individual faculty members, departments, and college units can respond to the students' expectations. Faculty and staff can compare and contrast students' expectations with their own experience level and knowledge of the institution. They can identify areas where groups of students may need additional strategies to challenge student expectations and, in the process, foster learning and growth in new ways.

Here are some of the ways PEEK data can be used on your campus:

• Circulate a copy of the PEEK Distribution Report to every faculty member.
• Have a well-known professor write a reaction to the Academic category results of PEEK data for the faculty/staff newsletter or campus newspaper.
• Have your Dean of Students or Student Activities Director write a reaction to the Social category results of PEEK data for the faculty/staff newsletter or campus newspaper.
• Have the directory of your counseling center write a reaction to the Personal category results of PEEK data for the faculty/staff newsletter or campus newspaper.
• Have department chairs and deans discuss the implications of PEEK data at the departmental staff retreats or planning meetings.
• Share the results from selected items to specific departments or faculty within departments as "For Your Information" notes.
• The Admissions Director can use PEEK data to develop ways to better inform new students and/or better select new students.
• The Orientation Director can administer and discuss PEEK data as an interesting, valuable activity at the beginning of each term.