Suffolk University’s Results from the 2011 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)

What is student engagement?*

Student engagement represents two critical features of college quality. The first is the amount of time and effort students put into their studies and other educationally purposeful activities. The second is how the institution deploys its resources and organizes the curriculum and other learning opportunities to get students to participate in activities that are linked to student learning.

What does NSSE do?*

Through its student survey, NSSE annually collects information at hundreds of four-year colleges and universities about student participation in programs and activities that institutions provide for their learning and personal development. The results provide an estimate of how undergraduates spend their time and what they gain from attending college.

NSSE provides participating institutions a variety of reports that compare their students' responses with those of students at comparison institutions. Comparisons are available for individual survey questions and the five NSSE Benchmarks of Effective Educational Practice.

What is the survey about?*

Survey items represent empirically confirmed "good practices" in undergraduate education. That is, they reflect behaviors by students and institutions that are associated with desired outcomes of college. NSSE does not assess student learning directly, but survey results point to areas where colleges and universities are performing well and aspects of the undergraduate experience that could be improved.

* Taken from http://nsse.iub.edu/html/about.cfm

Survey Instrument is available at:  The College Student Report

Participating Institutions: 761 colleges and universities participated in NSSE 2011.

Student Participation: More than 415,000 students completed NSSE in 2011.

NSSE 2011 Benchmarks:

To focus discussions about the importance of student engagement and to guide institutional improvement efforts, NSSE created five Benchmarks of Effective Educational Practice:

1. Level of Academic Challenge (LAC)
2. Active and Collaborative Learning (ACL)
3. Student-Faculty Interaction (SFI)
4. Enriching Educational Experiences (EEE)
5. Supportive Campus Environment (SCE)

The individual items used in the construction of these benchmarks were created with a blend of theory and empirical analysis. Principal components analyses (oblique rotation) were used initially in this exploration, with theory and practice being used subsequently to inform and determine the final benchmark item groupings.

NSSE provides comparison data for two groups – institutions with the same Carnegie Classification as Suffolk (Master’s-L: Master’s Colleges and Universities- larger programs) and all NSSE 2011 institutions.

Each of the benchmarks is described below. Clicking on the benchmark titles will allow you to view the actual benchmark data for Suffolk and the comparison groups.

The Level of Academic Challenge (LAC) is an eleven-item scale on which students report about the time they spend preparing for class, the amount of reading and writing they have done, and institutional expectations for academic performance. Suffolk’s benchmark scores for both first-year students and seniors were above those of other Master’s institutions (‘Carnegie Class’) as well as the NSSE 2011 overall average.

Active and Collaborative Learning (ACL) is a seven-item scale on the extent of students' class participation, the degree to which they have worked collaboratively with other students inside and outside of class, and the amount of tutoring and number of community-based projects in which they have been involved. Suffolk’s benchmark score for first-year students was marginally better than the scores of the other two groups. Suffolk’s benchmark score for seniors was above those of the comparison groups

The Student-Faculty Interaction (SFI)scale consists of six items. Students report on the extent of their interaction with faculty members and advisors and their discussions of ideas with faculty members outside of class; they also report on the extent of prompt feedback on academic performance and work with faculty on research projects. The Suffolk scores were greater than those of the comparison groups.

Enriching Educational Experiences  (EEE) is a scale with twelve items probing the extent of students' interaction with those of different racial or ethnic backgrounds or with different values or political opinions; their use of information technology; and their participation in activities such as internships, community service, study abroad, and co-curricular activities. While our first-year student benchmark score was lower than those of the comparison groups, the benchmark score for Suffolk seniors was above the scores of the other comparison groups.

Supportive Campus Environment (SCE) is a six-item scale measuring the extent to which students feel that the campus helps them succeed academically and socially; assists them in coping with nonacademic responsibilities; and promotes supportive relations among students and their peers, faculty members, and administrative personnel and offices. Although our first-year student benchmark score was slightly higher than those of the comparison groups, the benchmark score for Suffolk seniors was marginally below the scores of the other comparison groups.