Survey shows NAU engages its students


Inside NAU Home \| NAU in the News \| Search Archives \| Submit a News Tip	Vol. 4 No. 43 \| Nov. 7, 2007

Key findings from the
2007 National Survey
of Student Engagement
Results of the annual nationwide survey show that "high impact" practices engage students, specifically:

•	Students who meet with their adviser at least twice a year are more engaged and gain more from college, yet 10 percent of total respondents never meet with their adviser.
•	When faculty members provide guidance and feedback on projects and papers, students are more satisfied and say they benefit more in desired ways.
•	Students who study abroad report greater gains in intellectual and personal development than their peers who do not have such an experience.
•	First-generation students are less likely to take part in enriching educational experiences such as study abroad, an internship, or research with a faculty member.
•	An internship or field placement is the most powerful form of a culminating senior experience in terms of greater self-reported gains.

Survey shows NAU engages its students

Northern Arizona University is doing better than comparable institutions nationwide in engaging its students, according to the 2007 National Survey of Student Engagement.

Findings from the national survey released this week show that taking part in certain activities during college boosts students' performance in many areas, such as thinking critically, solving real-world problems and working effectively with others. These "high impact" activities include learning communities, undergraduate research, study abroad, internships and capstone projects.

"The study gives us an idea of how well our students are learning and what they put into and get out of their undergraduate experience," said Pat Haeuser, vice president for Planning, Budget and Institutional Effectiveness, adding that faculty and administrators can use the information to improve the collegiate experiences of undergraduates.

Now in its eighth year, the survey asked randomly selected first-year and senior students at 610 four-year colleges and universities in the United States and Canada to report the frequency they get involved in good educational practices. Five key areas of educational performance were measured: level of academic challenge; active and collaborative learning; student/faculty interaction; enriching educational experiences; and supportive campus environment.

At NAU, 1,531 randomly selected students participated in this year's survey.

NAU seniors scored significantly higher than their Carnegie "high research" peers in four of the five benchmarks, while freshmen scored significantly higher than these peers in three benchmarks. In particular, both freshmen and seniors scored significantly higher than their peers in the Active and Collaborative Learning benchmark, which looks at whether students are intensely involved in their education, and the Student Faculty Interaction benchmark, which looks at whether students work with faculty members inside and outside the classroom.

High-performing items for both NAU freshmen and seniors included asking questions or contributing to class discussions and working with other students on projects during class. Freshmen also report high percentages who have discussed grades or assignments with an instructor, and positively rated their relationships with faculty members.

USA Today is working with the National Survey of Student Engagement to further educate the public about the link between student engagement and a high quality undergraduate experience. The newspaper devoted a special section of its Monday edition and its college education web site to the survey, which singles out NAU for the way it successfully engages its nontraditional and distance learning students.

The NSSE 2007 Report is sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The full report can be viewed online.