National Survey of Student Engagement: Pathways to Collegiate Success

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National Survey of Student Engagement Pathways
to Collegiate Success

• 2004 Annual Survey Results

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• 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.

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• Its primary activity is annually surveying
  college students to assess the extent to which
  they engage in educational practices associated
  with high levels of learning and development.

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NSSE 2004

• Fifth conducted report
• 160,000 first-year and senior students randomly
  sampled from 470 institutions
• Objectives
• Provide data to colleges and universities to use
  for improving undergraduate education, inform
  state accountability and accreditation efforts,
  and facilitate national and sector bench-marking
  efforts, among others

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NSSE 2004- Findings

• Selected results
• Promising findings
• Disappointing findings
• Other key findings
• Faculty Survey of Student Engagement

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Selected Findings

• When faculty members expect students to study
  more and arrange class toward this end, students
  do so
• Students at historically Black colleges are more
  likely to participate in community service
  related to a course and report gaining more in
  personal, social, and ethical development

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Selected Findings

• Students who engage in deep learning activities
  report greater educational and personal gains
  from college, participate in more enriching
  educational experiences, perceive campus to be
  supportive, and are more satisfied overall with
  college

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Promising Findings

• Since 2000, some aspects of the student
  experience have improved. For example, today
  more seniors
• Participate in service learning (7)
• Have serious conversations with students with
  different social, political, and religious views
  (10)
• Perceive their campus to be helpful, considerate,
  and flexible (15)

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Promising Findings

• Some findings for all students
• About 9 of 10 students rate their college
  experience as good or excellent and 82 would
  probably or definitely attend the same school
  if they were starting school again
• Four-fifths of fraternity and sorority members
  participate in a fundraising event compared with
  only 43 of non-Greek students

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Promising Findings

• Three-fifths of seniors and 37 of first-year
  students do community service or volunteer work
• About half of non-denominational college students
  say that their institution substantially (very
  much or quite a bit) contributes to their
  development of a deepened sense of spirituality
  compared with only 19 of the students at public
  institutions

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Disappointing Findings

• Only one-tenth of students rely on newspapers or
  magazines as their primary source of local,
  national, or international news more than half
  say television is their primary source
• Two-fifths of first-year students and a quarter
  of seniors never discuss ideas from their
  classes or readings with a faculty member outside
  of class

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Disappointing Findings

• One-fifth of all students spend no time
  exercising
• More than a quarter of all students have never
  attended an art exhibit, gallery, play, dance, or
  other theater performance during the current
  school year

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Other Key Findings
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Time on Task

• Time preparing for class, co-curricular
  activities, and on-campus work are all positively
  related to educational and spiritual growth
• Only 11 of full-time students spend 25 hours per
  week preparing for class (as professors
  recommend). Two-fifths spend 10 hours or less on
  class preparation per week.

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Time on Task

• More than half of part-time students work
  off-campus 20 hours per week
• About 19 of seniors spend 11 hours per week
  caring for dependents
• A quarter of students spend 16 hours per week
  relaxing and socializing- 8 spend more than 25
  hours

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Time on Task
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Living Arrangements

• Forty-five percent of students live in campus
  housing (68 of first-years, 22 of seniors)
• The remainder live within driving distance (41),
  walking distance (13), or in a fraternity or
  sorority house (1)
• Twelve percent of men and 10 of women are
  members of a fraternity or a sorority

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Grades

• About two-fifths of all students reported that
  they earned mostly A grades
• Another 41 reported grades of either a B or B
• Only 3 of students reported Cs or lower

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Parental Education

• Thirty-four percent of NSSE respondents are
  first-generation college students
• Thirty-seven percent have parents who both
  graduated from college
• Twenty-two percent have masters degrees
• Seven percent have parents with doctoral degrees

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Multiple Institutions

• Approximately 36 of students attended one or
  more other institutions in addition to the one
  in which they are currently enrolled
• Of this group, 25 went to another four-year
  college, 36 to a community college, 7 to a
  vocational school, 6 to another form of
  post-secondary education, and 25 went to a
  combination of these

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College Activities

• A substantial amount of engagement is defined
  to be at least 50 of all students reporting
  often or very often

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College Activities

• The least frequent activities are those where the
  percentage of students responding never exceeds
  35

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Educational and Personal Growth
Self-reported Educational and Personal Gains from
College
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Enriching Educational Experiences

• On balance, African Americans, foreign nationals,
  fraternity or sorority members, and varsity
  athletes are more likely to participate in one or
  more enriching activity
• Older students, Asian/Pacific Islanders, students
  of Hispanic origin, first-generation students,
  part-time students, transfers, and commuters are
  less likely than their counterparts to
  participate in one or more of these activities

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Enriching Educational Experiences
Likelihood of Participating in Educationally
Engaging Experiences
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Enriching Educational Experiences
Likelihood of Participating in Educationally
Engaging Experiences
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Art, Wellness, Spirituality

• Fine and performance arts
• Approximately 25 of students frequently attend
  plays, art exhibits, gallery, dance, or theater
  performance, and 25-30 of students never attend
  these events
• Frequency of attendance was positively correlated
  with the students perceived emphasis of these
  events on campus, and negatively correlated with
  the number of hours students worked off-campus,
  provided for dependents, and commuted to class

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Art, Wellness, Spirituality

• Fine and performance arts
• Percentage of students who attended a fine or
  performing arts event during their school year

29
Art, Wellness, Spirituality

• Exercise and physical fitness
• Over fifty percent of students frequently
  exercised or performed physical fitness, though
  about 20 of students never engaged in these
  activities throughout the school year
• Activity varied by the kind of institution, with
  two-thirds of students participating in exercise
  at liberal arts schools, and half participating
  at doctoral institutions

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Art, Wellness, Spirituality

• Exercise and physical fitness
• Percent of students who exercised during their
  previous school year

31
Spiritual Activity and Spiritual Development

• One-third of students frequently engaged in
  activities to enhance spirituality, though 42
  never participated in these activities
• Students at denominational institutions were more
  likely to engage in spiritual activities (42)
  than those at non-denominational institutions
  (26), though about one-fourth of students at
  denominational institutions responded that they
  never attended these activities

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Spiritual Activity and Spiritual Development

• About one-third of students reported that their
  experience in college contributed quite a bit
  or very much to their spirituality
• Attending a denominational institution or
  participating in spiritual activities increased
  this effect

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Spirituality and Spiritual Development
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Civic Engagement

• Approximately 113,000 students from 449
  institutions also answered questions regarding
  their involvement in politics and community
  issues
• 54 of males and 46 of females stated that they
  at least sometimes expressed their opinions
  about political issues in a public forum

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Civic Engagement

• 93 of students used one or more media source to
  stay informed about political or community issues
• Newspapers and magazines are the primary source
  of national and international news for only 10
  of students
• More than one-fourth of students participated in
  a rally, vigil, or protest

36
Civic Engagement

• 22 of first-year students and 30 of seniors led
  meetings or activities for groups or
  organizations
• Students at liberal arts colleges were more
  likely to participate in these activities than
  those at other schools
• Students who reported higher levels of civic
  engagement, also reported that their college
  experience contributed more to their knowledge
  about voting in local, state, or national
  elections and contributing to the welfare of
  their community

37
Civic Engagement

• American Democracy Project (ADP)
• The ADP was developed by the American Association
  of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and
  the New York Times to learn more about increasing
  civic engagement by students
• Approximately 12,000 students at 32 AASCU schools
  responded to an additional 18 civic engagement
  questions

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Civic Engagement

• The vast majority considered the environment,
  health care, and human rights to be at least
  somewhat important
• Women students considered religion, healthcare,
  safety/security, and civil rights to be more
  important than men do

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Civic Engagement

• About 25 of first-year students and 37 of
  seniors have voted in an election either on- or
  off-campus
• Only about 10 had contacted public officials
  about an issue and less than 10 had organized a
  petition, volunteered for a political campaign,
  or ran for an elected position

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Civic Engagement

• Percent of students responding to
• civic engagement experimental
• items

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Civic Engagement
42
Deep Learning

• Students are capable of more than traditional
  pedagogical methods can tap
• Deep learning allows for a more complete learning
  experience
• Three types of deep learning
• Higher-order learning
• Integrative learning
• Reflective learning

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Deep Learning- examples
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Deep Learning

• Students who scored higher on deep learning
• Gained more in general education, practical
  knowledge and skills, and personal/social
  development
• Participated more often in enriching educational
  activities
• Perceived their campus as more supportive of
  their academic and social needs
• Were more satisfied with their overall
  educational experience
• Seniors, full-time students, those at liberal
  arts colleges, as well as those majoring in arts,
  humanities, and social sciences
• Students scoring higher on deep learning also
  made better use of their time, with more time
  spent on schoolwork, at jobs, participating in
  co-curricular activities and less time
  socializing

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Deep Learning
Time Spent per Week in Selected Activities by
Deep Learning Quartile
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Faculty Survey of Student Engagement
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Faculty Survey of Student Engagement

• Designed to complement the NSSE, the Faculty
  Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE) measures
  faculty priorities and expectations of students
• As it turns out, faculty and students disagree on
  several issues regarding their classroom
  experiences

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Faculty Survey of Student Engagement
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Faculty Survey of Student Engagement

• Class preparation
• Students spend about half as much time studying
  as instructors expect (3 hours per class per
  week, vs. the 6 hours expected)
• Faculty in physical sciences, engineering,
  biological sciences expect more time per class,
  and students actually do spend more time on those
  courses

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Faculty Survey of Student Engagement

• How faculty spend class time
• Sciences and engineering report more time (59)
  lecturing, while education faculty spend the
  least time lecturing (25)
• There is little difference in time spent
  lecturing based on course level overall, though
  in the social sciences, more time is spent
  lecturing in lower level courses (53) than
  higher level courses (44)

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Faculty Survey of Student Engagement

• Education faculty devote more time to small
  groups than other disciplines
• Biological/life sciences faculty spend about
  one-fourth of class time to experiential
  activities, which include labs and field work

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Faculty Survey of Student Engagement

• Full-time versus part-time faculty
• Part-time faculty expect students to study about
  one hour less than full-time faculty, five hours
  vs. six hours, respectively
• Part-time faculty expect that students spend less
  than 3 hours studying for their courses, while
  full-time faculty expect their students to spend
  3.5 hours per week on their classes
• Full-time faculty spend less time on small group
  activities and more time lecturing than part-time
  faculty

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Faculty Survey of Student Engagement