NSSE assesses how students utilize their college experience

By John Hayek

By focusing on whether colleges are using their resources to help students learn and get the most out of school, the study provides new information to students and parents in the college search process and gives campuses additional insight into effective teaching and student learning.

Its 2001 survey report, titled Improving the College Experience: National Benchmarks of Effective Educational Practice, challenges the view of college quality popularized by national news magazines that rate colleges largely on the basis of their institutional resources and public reputation.

By focusing on whether colleges are using their resources to help students learn and get the most out of school, the study provides new information to students and parents in the college search process and gives campuses additional insight into effective teaching and student learning.

“A school’s academic reputation as judged by others says very little about the extent that active learning, student-faculty interaction and a supportive environment characterize a campus,” said George Kuh, director of the NSSE project and Chancellor’s Professor at IU. Kuh discussed the findings at the campus’ annual Sonneborn Lecture Nov. 27 at the Indiana Memorial Union.

The current NSSE report summarizes the project’s first two years. The national database includes responses from more than 155,000 first-year and senior students at 470 different four-year colleges and universities.

“Students and parents should be asking colleges the kinds of questions NSSE asks,” said Russ Edgerton, director of the Pew Forum on Undergraduate Learning. “How much do students study and how rigorous are their assignments? How much writing is expected? How often do students interact with their teachers in meaningful ways? Policymakers and accrediting bodies should be asking these questions too.”

The results of the survey provide comparative standards for determining how effectively colleges are contributing to learning. Five benchmarks are measured: 1) level of academic challenge, 2) active and collaborative learning, 3) student-faculty interaction, 4) enriching educational experiences, and 5) supportive campus environment.

Thomas Longin, vice president of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, calls NSSE “a major step forward in the ongoing quest for effective ways to assess learning outcomes, academic quality and institutional effectiveness.”

Survey findings

• Schools of similar sizes and missions vary widely on student experience, though students at small colleges and liberal arts colleges tend to be more engaged than their counterparts attending larger colleges and universities.

• Many schools are positively influencing student engagement by offering small seminars for first-year students, service learning and research opportunities, and senior capstone projects that encourage contact between students and faculty members.

• A worrisome gap exists between the amount of time students spend on key educational activities and what faculty members and others say is optimum.

• Active and collaborative learning is becoming more common across all types of colleges and universities as most students (98 percent) at least “occasionally” participate in class discussions and 90 percent work with other students on projects during class.

The NSSE 2001 report also contains numerous examples of how colleges and universities are using their results.

The report is co-sponsored by the Pew Forum on Undergraduate Learning and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

NSSE is supported by a $3.3 million grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts to IU. The 2001 report may be obtained for $20.

http://www.iub.edu/~nsse