Annual survey of involvement in college life also finds high levels of interaction between distance learners and faculty members
Students who participate in collaborative learning and educational activities outside the classroom and who interact more with faculty members get better grades, are more satisfied with their education, and are more likely to remain in college. But the gains from those practices are even greater for students from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds, or who come to college less prepared than their peers.
Those are among the major findings of the latest annual National Survey of Student Engagement. Now in its seventh year, the survey, known as “Nessie” after its acronym, NSSE, covered 260,000 freshman and seniors at 523 four-year colleges and universities.
The survey measures “engagement” — how involved students are in academics and campus activities — to provide colleges with a broader assessment of their quality than is found in popular rankings like those of U.S. News & World Report.
Participating institutions receive detailed reports comparing their performance against that of other colleges across five categories: the level of academic challenge, active and collaborative learning, student-faculty interaction, enriching educational experiences, and a supportive campus environment.
A national summary of the data was released this week, but the individual institutional reports remain confidential unless released by the college or university.
This year’s survey found that student engagement had a “compensatory effect” on grades and students’ likelihood of returning for a second year of college, particularly among underserved minority populations and students entering college with lower levels of achievement. Data indicated that activities such as collaborating with peers on projects inside and outside the classroom helped students overcome previous educational disadvantages.
“When institutions use effective educational practices, they provide a small boost to students who are lower achieving when they start college,” says George D. Kuh, director of the survey and a professor of higher education at Indiana University at Bloomington. For those students, “the more engaged they become, the better their grades are, and they start catching up to students who started college with a higher level of achievement.”
For example, says Mr. Kuh, a NSSE comparative study of student engagement and success patterns at 18 colleges found that once African-American students attained an average level of engagement, the odds that they would return for a second year of college at the same institution surpassed those of white counterparts.
Engagement at a Distance
The 2006 survey also took a close look at nontraditional students, including adult and distance learners, and found that both populations engaged as often in rewarding educational activities as did traditional-aged students taking classes on the campus.
The survey found that distance-education students reported higher levels of academic challenge and greater developmental gains than their campus-based peers did. While distance-education students were less likely to participate in group projects than their traditional peers were, they spent a comparable amount of time writing papers and preparing for class, the survey indicated.
More surprisingly, distance learners also reported interacting with faculty members about as much as campus-based students did — albeit through online forums.
“It is gratifying to know that these people who are doing this at a distance are every bit as engaged” as their on-campus peers, says Mr. Kuh.
Similarly, adult students were found to be more engaged in classroom activities, and more likely to come to class prepared, ask questions in class, and rewrite papers before submitting them.
“This is a group that spends more time on academic matters, is highly focused, serious, more motivated perhaps than the typical-aged student,” says Mr. Kuh. “On average, adult learners take all this more seriously.”
Adult students, who often care for dependents and work more hours per week than younger students do, were less likely to enrich their educations with activities such as study abroad or community service. Nonetheless they tend to be as satisfied as traditional students are with their educational experiences, with nine out of 10 students in both groups rating their college experiences as “good” or “excellent.”
Among the disappointing findings of the study for professors was that students on average spent only 13 to 14 hours a week preparing for class. That is far below the 24 to 30 hours faculty members say students should be spending on preparation, and even two to six hours a week less than students themselves expect to spend studying when they first enter college.
A comparison of gender differences among first-year students showed that women spent more time than men preparing for class and were more likely to write multiple drafts of an assignment before turning it in but were less likely than men to interact with faculty members outside of class.
The survey also found that:
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Seniors at master’s-level colleges and universities made class presentations and worked with peers on problems in class more frequently than students at other institutions did.
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First-year students at liberal-arts colleges were more likely to participate in class discussions and to view faculty more positively than counterparts at other colleges were.
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Female students used e-mail more frequently than did male students to communicate with an instructor, but both male and female students reported similar usage of electronic media, such as listservs or instant messaging, to discuss or complete assignments.
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Among all adult learners, 12 percent of first-year students and 7 percent of seniors reported taking all their classes online, compared with only 1 percent of traditional-age students.
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Sixty-three percent of distance-education students were first generation, compared with 42 percent of other students.
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Part-time working students reported grades comparable to other students and perceived their institutions to be as supportive of their academic and social needs as do those of their nonworking peers.
The survey is administered by the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research and financed by participating institutions, with support from the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash College, the Lumina Foundation for Education, the National Postsecondary Education Cooperative, and the Teagle Foundation.
A report on the NSSE study, “Engaged Learning: Fostering Success for All Students” is available on the survey’s Web site (http://www.nsse.iub.edu).
WHAT COLLEGE STUDENTS DO A report on data from this year’s National Survey of Student Engagement compared the participation of adult learners and traditional-age college students in a variety of activities. Did community service or volunteer work | 47% | 69% | Studied foreign language | 29% | 50% | Studied abroad | 7% | 21% | Did senior project | 23% | 42% | Had research experience with a faculty member | 12% | 23% | Participated in extracurricular activity | 27% | 69% | Asked questions in class or contributed to discussions | 80% | 72% | Prepared two or more drafts of papers | 61% | 40% | Came to class without having completed assignments | 13% | 24% | Data from this year’s survey also revealed differences in the habits of male and female college students. Compared with men, women: - Spent more hours preparing for classes
- Spent more hours caring for dependents
And were more likely to: - Perform community service or volunteer work
- Use e-mail to communicate with an instructor
- Prepare two or more drafts of a paper
Compared with women, men: - Spent more time relaxing and socializing
- Spent more hours per week participating in extracurricular activities
And were more likely to: - Tutor or teach other students
- Exercise
- Discuss ideas from assigned readings with faculty members outside of class
- Work with classmates on assignments outside of class
SOURCE: National Survey of Student Engagement |
http://chronicle.com Section: Students Volume 53, Issue 13, Page A39