Measuring
Intellectual Intangibles: Student Engagement Survey
Releases Third Year Results
AsThe Washington Post writer,
Jay Mathews, recently described it, The National Survey for
Student Engagement (NSSE) "rate[s] a college's intellectual
intangibles." Unlike other rankings of colleges and universities
that focus on such factors as average SAT scores or rate of
alumni annual giving, NSSE seeks to provide information about
students' involvement with their learning. NSSE released its
2002 annual report, "From Promise to Progress: How Colleges
and Universities Are Using Student Engagement Results to Improve
Collegiate Quality," last month. The survey gauges the
level of student engagement at four-year colleges and universities
in the following categories:
1) Academic challenge
2) Active and collaborative learning
3) Student-faculty interaction
4) Enriching educational experiences
5) Supportive campus environment.
The study is designed to examine
experiences that have been proven to enhance learning. Research
studies have demonstrated that elements of each of these five
clusters of activities are linked to desired outcomes in college.
NSSE will conduct a "sister survey" for community
colleges in 2003.
FINDINGS
Sixty-three percent of first-year
students and 47 percent of seniors report never to have worked
with faculty members on activities other than coursework.
Fifty-seven percent of all
students say diverse perspectives (of race, religion, gender,
and political beliefs) are often discussed in class or considered
in assignments.
In general, students who
come from differing racial and ethnic backgrounds appeared
to engage in effective educational practices at comparable
levels.
International students generally
prove more engaged in different aspects of the college experience
than are American students, especially in the first year.
International students seem to make the most effective use
of what college has to offer: they interact more frequently
with faculty, perceive the campus environment as more supportive,
score higher on academic challenge, engage in more diversity
related activities, and report greater gains in personal and
social development, political competence, and general education.
Latinos and Whites are the
groups who report being most satisfied with their college
experience, while Asian Pacific Americans and African Americans
report the greatest gains in "personal growth."
Seventy-one percent of first-year
students and 58 percent of seniors never participated in community-based
projects as part of a regular course.
Being a transfer student
(as forty percent of all seniors surveyed are) is negatively
correlated with scores on all benchmark categories except
for academic achievement, where they rank on par with native
students. These experiences hold true across factors such
as type of institution, sex, age, and race. They share these
challenges with non-traditional-age students and commuter
students.
Women in their senior year
report shying away from majoring in computer and information
science (3 percent) and Engineering (2 percent) more so than
men (10 percent and 13 percent respectively). Women tend to
major more in health-related fields and education (8 percent
and 13 percent respectively) than men do (3 percent and 5
percent respectively).
Campus experiences related
to diversity have a high positive correlation to other effective
educational practices.
Learning communities are favorably
linked to many other educationally purposeful activities and
desired outcomes.
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DID YOU KNOW?
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Seventy percent of all students
reported their advising as "good" or "excellent."
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Transfer students are more likely
to rewrite papers and to be prepared for class.
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Women
in science, math, engineering, and technology degrees
spend more time studying then their male counterparts.
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Nationally, 29 percent of first-year
students and 22 percent of seniors report participating
in some type of learning community.
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Students who have spent time
with others of a different race or ethnicity report the
following: more progress in personal and educational growth,
more involvement in active and collaborative learning,
and a higher level of satisfaction with their college
experience.
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Nineteen
percent of first-year students and 24% of seniors report
A grades.
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White students have the highest
grades, followed by Asian, Latino, Native American, and
African-American students, in that order.
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Two-thirds of seniors did community
service or volunteered during college.
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Student engagement is highly
correlated with a high GPA.
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African Americans report more
active and collaborative learning activities; Asian Pacific
Americans prove the least engaged in these sorts of activities.
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