National Survey of Student Engagement. Engaged Learning: Fostering Success for All Students

  • Larson S
  • Measham T
  • Williams L
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Abstract

The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) documents dimensions of quality in undergraduate education and provides information and assistance to colleges, universities, and other organizations to improve student learning. The development of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) as a means for assessing quality in higher education has coincided with the emergence of accountability as the central issue in national higher education policy. This past year, more than one million college and university students at 557 four-year degree granting institutions in the U.S. and Canada were sent the NSSE survey. What was all but overlooked in this clamoring for more accountability was the need for professional assessment of student learning. The demand for evidence will only intensify in a climate clamoring for information about institutional performance. Thus, we need to determine carefully what we are trying to accomplish and whether the curriculum and other learning opportunities are organized to induce students to acquire the skills, competencies, knowledge, and sensibilities needed today and in the future to make a living and live a satisfying civically responsible life. In this regard, the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) has done a great service by putting forth a wellreasoned conception of essential learning outcomes for college graduates as the first step in its ten-year "Liberal Education and America's Promise" (LEAP) initiative. The second point about which too little has been said is how to get from here to there. College and university administrators, faculty members, advisors, student life staff, students, governing boards, institutional researchers, higher education scholars, accreditors, government agencies, prospective students and their families, high school counselors. Results specific to each college or university and identified as such will not be made public except by mutual agreement. Supplemented by other information such as institutional records, results from other surveys, and data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). Adult learners were much less likely to have participated in such enriching educational activities as community service, foreign language study, a culminating senior experience, research with faculty, and co-curricular activities. As expected, these students are older, spend more time caring for dependents, and are more likely to be first-generation students. with faculty members less often and report fewer enriching educational experiences. They also score lower on the active and collaborative learning benchmark. For example, they prepare multiple drafts of papers more often and are more likely come to class with assignments completed. 1. Student engagement is positively related to first-year and senior student grades and to persistence between the first and second year of college at the same institution. 3. The NSSE instrument works equally well for students of color and White students in different institutional contexts, such as Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs), Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). NSSE is widely used in part because it provides information that faculty, staff and others can use almost immediately to improve the quality of the undergraduate experience. This finding, combined with UCLA Higher Education Research Institute survey data indicating that faculty were increasingly relying on lecture in their courses, prompted the university to undertake a comprehensive review of classroom teaching methods and student learning strategies. Among the planned interventions are a virtual academic resource center, a committee for cultural competencies development, faculty development activities sponsored by the University Center for Teaching and Learning, a facultydriven early warning system for at-risk students, and addition of community service projects tied to the curriculum. After reviewing students' most and least frequently reported activities on NSSE, the university delved deeper into what makes for an engaged learning experience. During the spring 2006 semester, a team commissioned by the University's Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) interviewed Stout students to develop a more contextualized understanding of student engagement. In response to NSSE results showing its students being less involved in campus life than comparison institutions, a vice chancellor for student life was appointed to increase student involvement on campus. Consider requiring deans and faculty to submit plans for enhancing student engagement. Involve students majoring in marketing to solicit student feedback about NSSE results. Workshop topics address how to use NSSE data for assessment, accreditation, self-studies, general education reviews, reviews of academic and student life programs, and faculty development initiatives. The fall 2006 Regional NSSE Users Workshop was held at Southern Connecticut State University with about 100 participants from 50 different colleges and universities. The benchmark figures are a modified "box and whiskers" type of chart. Each column shows students' scores within the distribution at the 95th, 75th, 50th (median), 25th, and 5th percentiles.3 The dot signifies the median the middle score that divides all students' scores into two equal halves. At the same time one can see what range of scores are needed (i.e., 75th or 95th percentile) to be a top performer in the group. Starting in 2005, NSSE reported student-level benchmarks for multi-institution groups to emphasize the variance and range among students attending different types of institutions. "Our Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching has sponsored campuswide Faculty Forums to discuss ways to enhance learning related to NSSE results, benchmarks, and student engagement." Students learn firsthand how experts think about and solve problems by interacting with faculty members inside and outside the classroom. Internships, community service, and senior capstone courses provide students with opportunities to synthesize, integrate, and apply their knowledge. First-Year Students Seniors (in percentages) Had serious conversations with students who are very different from you in terms of their religious beliefs, political opinions, or personal values Had serious conversations with students of a different race or ethnicity than your own Institutional emphasis: Encouraging contact among students from different economic, social, and racial or ethnic backgrounds Hours per 7-day week spent participating in co-curricular activities (organizations, campus publications, student government, fraternity or sorority, intercollegiate or intramural sports, etc.) Used an electronic medium (listserv, chat group, Internet, instant messaging, etc.) to discuss or complete an assignment Practicum, internship, field experience, co-op experience, or clinical assignment Community service or volunteer work Participate in a learning community or some other formal program where groups of students take two or more classes together Foreign language coursework Study abroad Independent study or self-designed major Culminating senior experience (capstone course, senior project or thesis, comprehensive exam, etc.) Students perform better and are more satisfied at colleges that are committed to their success and cultivate positive working and social relations among different groups on campus.

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Larson, S., Measham, T. G., & Williams, L. J. (2006). National Survey of Student Engagement. Engaged Learning: Fostering Success for All Students. Retrieved from http://nsse.iub.edu/NSSE_2006_Annual_Report/docs/NSSE_2006_Annual_Report.pdf

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