Big Ten partners with Athlete Viewpoint to get student athletes’ feedback

The Big Ten has reached an agreement to use Athlete Viewpoint’s survey platform to collect feedback from student athletes at all 14 of its member schools.

Athlete Viewpoint, the 3-year-old company that uses its surveys to collect and analyze data gathered from student athletes, will provide the Big Ten with feedback across the conference on athletic and academic experience.

The Big Ten represents Athlete Viewpoint’s first conference deal. The company works with 40 schools in addition to the NJCAA and Women Leaders in College Sports.

“This will mark the first time we’re surveying across all of the member institutions in a conference,” said Jennifer Cross, a co-founder of Athlete Viewpoint along with her husband, Michael, an associate athletic director at Penn State. “The more data you have, the better you can present a big-picture look at things.”

The Athlete Viewpoint software asks student athletes to evaluate their athletic and academic experience and gives them the ability to respond confidentially. Each client school receives feedback from the survey in dashboard form. Answers can be compared internally year-over-year, or externally by conference and nationally.

The business touts its ability to generate higher response rates by making the surveys easy to access on mobile.

Athlete Viewpoint was already working with three schools in the Big Ten: Illinois, Minnesota and Rutgers. Each school can still create its own customized surveys separate from the Big Ten.

The conference’s survey results and analysis will be forwarded to the Big Ten Advisory Commission, a group of African-American former student athletes who help shape policy in the league.

“The surveys will identify trends and current concerns of today’s student athlete,” said Brad Traviolia, the Big Ten’s deputy commissioner and COO.