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Survey of Student Engagement

Survey of four-year college students seeks to help institutions measure how well their students are learning and what they can do to improve the learning experience.

Involvement in educationally purposeful activities such as interacting with faculty members and working with peers on projects inside and outside of class has positive effects on grades and increases the odds that students will return to college for a second year, according to the 2006 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE).

Furthermore, the survey finds that while student engagement helps all learners, those who come to college less well prepared academically or are from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds tend to benefit the most.

The NSSE gathers information from about 260,000 randomly selected first-year and senior students at 523 four-year colleges and universities and is intended to give schools an idea of “how well students are learning and what they put into and get out of their undergraduate experience.” The Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University at Bloomington conducts the survey.

The survey measures five key areas of educational performance: 1) level of academic challenge, 2) active and collaborative learning, 3) student-faculty interaction, 4) enriching educational experiences, and 5) supportive campus environment.

Other key findings from the 2006 report include: Both first-year and senior students spend only about 13-14 hours a week on average preparing for class, far below what faculty members say is necessary to do well in their classes. New students studied fewer hours during their first year than they expected to when they started college. Another area of concern: Part-time students who were working had less contact with faculty and were less likely to participate in enriching educational experiences or active and collaborative learning activities.

Different types of institutions have strengths in different areas of engagement, the report also notes. First-year students at research universities, for example, are more likely to participate in a learning community than their peers at other types of institutions. First-year students at liberal arts colleges more often participate in class discussions and view their faculty more positively than students at other institutions, while seniors at master’s level colleges and universities more frequently make class presentations and work with their peers on problems in class than students at other institutions.

More information on the NSSE survey can be found at www.nsse.iub.edu.