1 NSSE Columbus State University 2004

2 Program Overview  What do you know about college student engagement?  Why is student engagement important?  What is NSSE?  NSSE 2004  Columbus State University data  2004 Benchmark Report  Using NSSE data  Questions and discussion

3 What Do We Know about College Student Engagement? What percentage of our students participate in community service or volunteer work? First-Year 27% Senior 53%

4 What Do We Know about College Student Engagement? What percentage of CSU students spent more than 5 hours per week participating in co-curricular activities? First-Year 18% Senior 13%

5 What Do We Know about College Student Engagement? What percentage of CSU students always came to class having completed readings or assignments? First-Year 19% Senior 15%

6 What Really Matters in College Student Engagement The research is unequivocal: students who are actively involved in both academic and out-of-class activities gain more from the college experience than those who are not as involved. Pascarella & Terenzini. (1991). How college affects students.

7 What is NSSE? (pronounced “nessie”)  Evaluates the extent to which first-year and senior students engage in educational practices associated with high levels of learning and development  Supported by grants from Lumina Foundation for Education and the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash College  Co-sponsored by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Pew Forum on Undergraduate Learning

8 Why A National Survey?  Refocus conversations about undergraduate quality to what matters most  Enhance institutional improvement efforts  Foster comparative and consortium activity  Inform accountability  Provide systematic national data on “good educational practices”

9 Effective Educational Practices  Student-faculty contact  Active learning  Prompt feedback  Time on task  High expectations  Cooperation among students  Respect for diverse talents and ways of learning Chickering and Gamson. (1987). Seven principles of good practice in undergraduate education.

10 NSSE Project Scope  Almost 900 different colleges and universities  50 states, Puerto Rico, and Canada  Data from more than 620,000 students  Institutions include Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions, Tribal Colleges, and all female and all male colleges YearColleges/ Universities

11 Use and Validity of Self-Reports Validity of Self-Reporting Improves When…  Requested information is known to respondents  Questions are clear and unambiguous  Respondents take questions seriously and thoughtfully  Answering does not threaten, embarrass, or violate privacy or compel a socially desirable response National assessment experts designed the NSSE survey, The College Student Report, to meet these conditions

12 What Does The College Student Report Cover? Student Behaviors in College Institutional Actions And Requirements Institutional Actions And Requirements  Student Reactions to College Student Background Information Student Background Information Student Learning & Development

13 Survey Administration  Administered to random sample of first-year & senior students  Paper & Web-based survey  Flexible to accommodate consortium questions  Multiple follow-ups to increase response rates

14 Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE) 2004  To date more than 34,000 faculty members at 276 four-year institutions The FSSE parallels NSSE's survey of undergraduate students focusing on:  Faculty perceptions of how often their students engage in different activities  The importance faculty place on various areas of learning and development  The nature and frequency of interactions faculty have with students  How faculty members organize class time.  Results intended as catalyst for discussions about quality of students' educational experience

15 How Does FSSE Inform What We Know about Student Engagement? According to NSSE, what percentage of CSU students spent more than 25 hours per week preparing for class? First-Year 4% Senior 8%

16 How Does FSSE Inform What We Know about Student Engagement?  Approximately two-thirds (65%) of faculty expect students to spend greater than 25 hours preparing for class  While only about one-fifth (20%) actually think that students spend this amount of time  While only about one of ten (12%) students actually spend this amount of time

17 How Does FSSE Inform What We Know about Student Engagement?

18 NSSE 2004 Institutions by Carnegie Type

19 NSSE 2004 Respondents Race and Ethnicity Percentage of Respondents

20 NSSE 2004 Response Rates  CSU’s response rate = 42%  40% overall for all NSSE 2004 institutions  40% for Paper mode institutions  41% for Web-only institutions  Response rates ranged from 9% to 89%

21 NSSE 2004 CSU Results  Thinking about your overall experience at this institution, how would you rate the quality of relationships with faculty and administrative personnel and offices?

22 Carnegie Group Comparison with CSU’s Results  Thinking about your overall experience at this institution, to what extent does the college encourage contact between students from different economic, social, and racial or ethnic backgrounds?

23 Carnegie Group Comparison with CSU’s Results  In thinking about your undergraduate program as a whole, including your major, have you done a culminating senior experience (e.g., senior comprehensive exam, capstone course, thesis or project)?

24 NSSE 2004 Promising Findings  Most students (80%) would attend CSU if they could start over again  Even more students (88%) say they had a good or excellent educational experience

25 NSSE 2004 Disappointing Findings  Almost one-third (29%) of first-year CSU students “never” had writing assignments between 5 and 19 pages  31% of first-year students and 40% of the seniors at CSU prepared between 1 and 5 written papers or reports of fewer than 5 pages  34% of first-year students and 38% of the seniors at CSU work more than 20 hours per week

26 Introduction to NSSE Benchmarks  Measures of collegiate quality  Indicators of effective educational practice  Key activities related to desired student learning outcomes  Derived for first-year and senior students  Permit comparisons against peers and national norms

NSSE Benchmarks NSSE Created five clusters or benchmarks of effective educational practice: 1)Level of academic challenge 2)Active and collaborative learning 3)Student-faculty interactions 4)Enriching educational experience 5)Supportive campus environment

28 Level of Academic Challenge  Challenging intellectual and creative work is central to student learning and collegiate quality.  Institutions promote high levels of achievement by setting high expectations for student performance. Activities included (11 items):  Preparing for class  Reading and writing  Using higher-order thinking skills  Institutional environment that emphasizes academic work

29 Level of Academic Challenge

30 Active and Collaborative Learning  Students learn more when they are more intensely involved in their education.  Collaborating with others prepares students to handle practical, real-world problems. Activities included (7 items):  Asking questions in class  Making presentations  Working with other students on projects  Discussing ideas from readings or classes with others

31 Active and Collaborative Learning

32 Student Interactions with Faculty  Interacting with experts shows students first-hand how to think about and solve practical problems.  Teachers become role models and mentors for learning. Activities included (6 items):  Discussing assignments with a professor  Talking about career plans with faculty member or advisor  Getting prompt feedback on academic performance  Working with a faculty member on a research project

33 Student-Faculty Interaction

34 Enriching Educational Experiences  Learning opportunities that complement the goals of the academic program.  Provide opportunities to integrate and apply knowledge. Activities included (11 items):  Experiencing diversity  Using technology  Participating in internships  Culminating senior experience

35 Enriching Educational Experiences

36 Supportive Campus Environment  Students perform better and are more satisfied at colleges that are committed to their success.  Does institution cultivate positive working and social relationships among different groups on campus? Activities included (6 items):  Helping students achieve academically  Helping students cope with non-academic responsibilities  Promoting supportive relationships between students and peers, faculty, and administrative personnel

37 Supportive Campus Environment

38 CSU National Benchmark Deciles

39 Institutional Engagement Index The engagement index represents the degree to which students engage more or less than expected in the five areas of effective educational practice. This report answers three main questions: 1.What would happen to benchmark scores if statistically adjusted for student and institutional characteristics? 2.Is CSU doing better or worse than expected based on student and institutional characteristics? 3.How does the difference in actual and predicted scores compare to other NSSE colleges and universities?

40 CSU Engagement Index

41 CSU Engagement Index

42 Using NSSE Data  Discover current levels of engagement (institution, major field, year in school)  Determine if current levels are satisfactory (criterion reference, normative, or peer comparison)  Target areas for improvement  Modify programs and policies accordingly  Teach students what is required to succeed  Monitor student & institutional performance Areas of Effective Educational Practice Areas for Institutional Improvement

43 Internal Campus Uses Institutional Improvement Peer Comparison Student Affairs Academic Advising Faculty Development Academic Affairs 1st Year & Senior Experience Learning Communities Institutional Research Enrollment Management Learning Assessment

44 External Campus Uses  Assess status vis-à-vis peers, competitors  Identify, develop, market distinctive competencies  Encourage collaboration in consortia  Provide evidence of accountability for good processes

45 Example of Use  Finding: Lack of interaction between faculty and first-year students  Action: More full-time faculty teaching first- year classes instead of relying on large number of part-time faculty

46 Example of Use  Finding: Students not developing writing skills at desired level  Action: Created more opportunities for writing across the curriculum

47 Using NSSE  Participation in accreditation self-study  Alumni reports (magazine, reunion)  Development Office  More extensive peer analysis particularly in the student affairs area  Strategy – Connect to strategic objectives, promote strengths, target areas for improvement

48 How Do I Find Out More? NSSE Website CSU Website faculty.colstate.edu/program.htm