The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), developed with support from Pew Charitable Trusts, was created to assess students’ level of engagement in various aspects of college life. The survey aims to provide information for a better understanding of how students spend their time, what they gain from their college experiences, and how programs and activities (both inside and outside the classroom) shape learning and development.

The NSSE survey is built around five key clusters of activities that research studies show are linked to successful college outcomes:

1. Level of academic challenge
2. Active and collaborative learning
3. Student-faculty interaction
4. Enriching educational experiences
5. Supportive campus environment

In the spring of 2005, Grinnell College administered the NSSE survey to first-year and senior students. Grinnell was one of 529 four-year colleges and institutions that participated in the survey that year. Seventy-one percent of Grinnell students responded to the survey. The NSSE organization processed the data and created five institution-level indicators or benchmarks. Each benchmark is expressed on a 100-point scale and is a composite indicator that reflects sets of questions that ask about behaviors, interactions, and time spent on tasks (like studying, meeting with faculty, activities, etc.) that are associated with effective educational practices.

Grinnell College students' responses placed the Level of Academic Challenge benchmark score in the top 10% of all institutions nationally. For first-year students, Grinnell College scored in the top 50% of all institutions on Enriching Educational Experiences and Supportive Campus Environment benchmarks. For senior students, Grinnell College scored in the top 50% of all institutions on Student-Faculty Interaction and Enriching Educational Experiences benchmarks.

As compared to students at peer institutions, Grinnell students reported that they more frequently read books for enjoyment or academic enrichment; attended music, art, and theater events; tried to better understand someone else’s view; learned something that changed the way they understood concepts; and examined the strengths and weaknesses of their own views. First-year students reported spending significantly less time memorizing facts than peers at other institutions and spending more time analyzing, making judgments about arguments and information, and applying theories or concepts to practical problems. These findings emphasize key aspects of a Grinnell education.

Context

Readers should keep in mind several important points about the nature of this information. First, the NSSE results are not direct measures of learning. The measures concern elements of effective educational practice, which are associated with learning but are indirect, proxy indicators. Readers will want to be cautious about over-interpreting small numerical differences. These data may not be precise enough to make fine, meaningful distinctions. Bear in mind that this is a survey. At Grinnell, we had a wonderful student response rate -- 71% of Grinnell students responded to the survey. However, in our administration year the average response rate for all institutions was 35%. Depending on the situation, low response rates may curtail a school’s ability generalize the results.

In the spring of 2005, Grinnell College was a partner with NSSE in a project called Connecting the Dots. NSSE researchers visited Grinnell College to conduct cognitive interviews and focus groups. Part of this research was aimed at understanding how students interpret questions on the NSSE survey. NSSE is a very good, highly-researched survey instrument -- but it is not without a few caveats.

For example, some of the survey terminology was less familiar to Grinnell students. Survey phrases like “service learning” are more frequently framed in terms of “social justice” at Grinnell and students did not as readily identify with the NSSE wording. “Learning community” is an unfamiliar term to Grinnell students (the whole College is seen as the learning community). There was some confusion about how Grinnell’s Mentored Advanced Project (MAP) program fit with NSSE’s questions about student research projects.

NSSE’s Connecting the Dots and psychometric reports provide additional detail for interested readers. Grinnell is finding value in the NSSE survey, but we keep these limitations in mind.

Uses

Grinnell College will be using NSSE results to help monitor our strategic planning process. NSSE benchmark scores will be among the indicators used to help track our progress on the plan. For example, an Expanding Knowledge Initiative was one result of our recent Strategic Plan. The EKI called for more interdisciplinary course offerings, a second-year student retreat, the appointment of Interdisciplinary Fellows from among the College faculty, and several new faculty positions. While maintaining Grinnell's strong performance on the Level of Academic Challenge dimension of NSSE, we might also expect to see even stronger results in parts of the survey that address Active & Collaborative Learning and Enriching Educational Experiences.

NSSE results have also been incorporated into faculty development workshops. For example, a workshop this past summer, International Students and Global Understanding, resulted in specific proposals for enhancing global understanding through in-class and out-of-class interactions among international and domestic students.

The College has planned a three-year survey cycle for NSSE. We will gather input from first-year students and will follow-up with them when they are seniors. Grinnell first administered NSSE in the spring of 2005, and we will administer it again in the spring of 2008. (In the spring of 2007 we also used NSSE to gather input for a special project called Parsing the First Year of College. Parsing is a research project that involves 35 schools across the nation to examine factors that affect the success of first-year college students.)

Grinnell is planning to administer the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement in the spring of 2008. FSSE is aligned with the NSSE survey. In this way, we can compare student perceptions with faculty perceptions and provide better opportunities to integrate the dialogues. Grinnell also piloted the Beginning College Survey of Student Engagement (BCSSE) in the fall of 2007.

For additional information please contact Scott Baumler, Director of Institutional Research, 641-269-3450, baumler @ grinnell.edu.