2012 National Survey of Student Engagement

Jeremy D. Penn & John D. Hathcoat

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Opening Discussion

• What mattered MOST to your success in college as an undergraduate?

• What should all OSU students do or experience before they graduate?

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Overview

1. Purpose and methodology2. Demographic characteristics3. Benchmark comparisons4. Comparisons across time5. Expectation gap (BCSSE & NSSE)

College Experience

Student Precollege Characteristics and Experiences

Organizational Context

Peer Environment

Student learning and persistence

Structures policies & practices

Faculty culture

Individual Student Experiences

Classroom Experiences

Out-of-Class Experiences

Curricular Experiences

Influences on Student Learning and PersistenceFrom Reason, Terenzini, and Domingo (2006, p. 154).

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Summary

Purpose – national survey aiming to assess the academic engagement of first-year students and seniors.

Methodology – web surveys were administered during Spring 2012 by NSSE Institute.

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Response Rate

2002 2005 2009 20120

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

FreshmenSeniors

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Sample Demographics

WhiteBlac

kNati

ve

Hispan

icAsia

nMale

s

Female

s

Full-T

ime

0102030405060708090

100

First Year SampleFirst Year PopulationSenior SampleSenior Population

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Benchmark ComparisonsAspirational InstitutionsLess CompetitiveSimilar

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Comparison Group Demographics

Response Rate

Full Time Female Younger than 24

Resides on Campus

0102030405060708090

100

OSUAspirationalLess CompPeer

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Benchmark Results

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Level of Academic Challenge

Items – paper more than 20 pages, number of assigned books/readings; emphasis of applying theories to new situations.

Freshmen – significantly lower than aspirational (d = -.20).

Seniors – significantly lower than all other groups (d = -.16, -.20, and -.18)

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LAC Across Time

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Active and Collaborative Learning

Items – class presentation, worked with others, ask questions, class discussion, sought tutoring, taught others.

Freshmen – lower than aspirational (d = -.14)

Senior – not different from all other groups

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ACL Across Time

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Student Faculty Interaction

Items – project with faculty, faculty feedback, discuss assignments/grades.

Freshmen – higher than peers (d = .14).

Senior – lower than aspirational (d = -.07).

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SFI Across Time

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Enriching Educational Experiences

Items – hours in co-curricular activities, community service, culminating senior experience, serious conversations with students of different race/ethnicity

Freshmen – lower than aspirational (d = -.22) and peers (d = -.15).

Seniors – lower than aspirational (d = -.24), higher than less comp (d = .21) and not different from peers.

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EEE Across Time

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Supportive Campus Environment

Items – campus provides support to succeed academically, quality of relationships with students, administration, etc.

Freshmen – higher than aspirational (d = .13), less comp (d = .17) and peers (d = .15).

Seniors – higher than peer (d = .08)

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SCE Across Time

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Benchmark Summary Discussion

• Level of academic challenge continues to be a concern (also a concern in 2009, 2005, and 2002)

• Supportive campus environment is improved over 2009 results

• What do the results so far suggest about students’ experiences at OSU?

• What changes might be made at OSU in response to these results?

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Expectation Gap

2011 BCCSE – survey of beginning college students to provide information on how incoming freshmen expected to engage at OSU.

Cross-sectional comparisons between BCSSE and NSSE allows us to infer gaps between “expected” and “actual” engagement.

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Use of Time

020406080

Actual in High SchoolExpected in CollegeActual in College

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Classwork

020406080

Actual in High SchoolExpected in CollegeActual in College

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Diversity

020406080

Actual in High SchoolExpected in CollegeActual in College

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Grades

Grades of A or A- Grades of B or B- Grades of B- or lower

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Actual in High SchoolExpected in CollegeActual in College

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How are some campuses responding?

• Undergraduate research• Learning communities• Service learning• Writing-intensive courses• Capstone experiences• Common intellectual

experiences (a “core”)• Collaborative

assignments and projects• Diversity / global learning

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High impact practices should not be just for honors students

“historically underserved students tend to benefit more from engaging in educational purposeful activities [such as high impact practices] than majority students” (p. 17)

-Recommends participation in at least two high-impact activities for all students

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Discussion

• What is the next step for improving engagement at OSU?

• What can / will you do in your role at OSU to improve student engagement?