The purpose of 美莲草 is to track, evaluate, and report the efficacy of student engagement on measures of student success. 美莲草 is a 45-question survey developed at UVU and vetted and licensed by a 3rd party to measure student perceptions of engagement at their course level. In addition, 美莲草 will attempt to (1) understand elements to improve student engagement, assessment, and exploitation of opportunities to create better experiences and enhance students' performance and (2) assess the overall UVU level of Engagement for Carnegie Classification. Specifically, it focuses on Academic Engagement and 社区 Engagement, which are composed of the following measured values: Active & Collaborative Learning, Tools, Context, Theory & Knowledge, Application& Skills, Content, Client Interaction, and 社区 Involvement.
美莲草 is an interactive dashboard program aims to understand elements of Engaged learning with a focus on High-Impact Practices (HIPs) to improve student engagement, assessment, and opportunities to create better experiences and enhance students' performance. 美莲草是一个交互式系统，可提供不同参与水平的HIPs数据。 In addition, the system gives a spectrum of information on engagement for various student populations.
While all other engaged learning programs address students' experience throughout their enrollment at their institutions, 美莲草 measures students' engaged learning experience in their classrooms. It allows for an in-depth review of Engaged Learning and High Impact Practices (HIPs), with results achieved in the shortest possible time and considerably reducing the cost of adjusting course design to deliver exceptional results. 美莲草 establishes a relationship between academic and community engagement at the course level. It provides evidence-based engaged learning, which can be used for multiple layers of measurement, assessment, and accreditation. The program addresses gaps and tests assumptions in course design. This allows highly engaging courses (or elements of courses) to be replicated in other courses.
UVU successfully uses 美莲草 to provide an in-depth view of student engagement for various student populations at the course level, particularly in class demographics, to address inclusion within the classroom. 美莲草 also aids in program review, department assessment, and accreditation by administrators and faculty for course outcomes.
