Using the National Survey of Student Engagement to Enhance Student Academic Success: Best Practices on Canadian Campuses

Debra DawsonRyerson University

New Faculty Orientation January 5th, 2010

Outline

• What is student engagement?• What are the best practices at

Canadian Universities?• What are the barriers or levers to

change?• What can we do to enhance student

success?

What is student engagement?

• Students’ sustained involvement, intense effort and concentration in learning activities

• Students’ use of cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies that lead to deep learning– Institutions’ learning opportunities and

services that induce students to take part in such activities

– Mighty ( 2006)

• Designed to obtain information about student participation in programs and activities that foster deep learning

• To date 59 Canadian Universities have participated

http://nsse.iub.edu/index.cfm

National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)

Seven Principles of Good Practice

1. Encourages student-faculty contact

2. Encourages cooperation among students

3. Encourages active learning

4. Gives prompt feedback

5. Emphasizes time on task

6. Communicates high expectations

7. Respects diverse talents and ways of learning- Chickering and Gamson (1987)

Context

• Rae Report(2005)-”Ontario- A Leader in Learning”– Establishment of the Higher Education

Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO)– Recommendation for the introduction of

quality measures and standards such as NSSE

• OCAV guidelines Undergraduate Degree Level Expectationshttp://www.lib.uwo.ca/files/teaching/OCAV_UDLE.pdf

BenchmarkSupportive Campus Environment

• Students perform better and are more satisfied at institutions that are: -committed to their success

-cultivate positive working and social relationships among different groups on campus

Supportive Campus EnvironmentBenchmark Comparisons

52 51.555.656.0 58.555.9

0

20

40

60

80

100

Ryerson Ontario Carnegie Peers Ryerson Ontario Carnegie Peers

First-Year Students Senior Students

BenchmarkEnriching Educational Experiences

• Opportunity to integrate and apply knowledge– Experience diversity– Participate in internships, field placements,

& undergraduate research projects– Senior capstone experience

Enriching Educational ExperiencesBenchmark Comparisons

36.2 34.7 36.5

24.8 25.825.1

0

20

40

60

80

100

Ryerson Ontario Carnegie Peers Ryerson Ontario Carnegie Peers

First-Year Students Senior Students

BenchmarkStudent-Faculty Interaction

• Students learn how experts think about and solve practical problems by interacting with faculty members inside and outside the classroom.

• Faculty are role models, mentors and guides for continuous, life-long learning.

Student-Faculty Interaction Benchmark Comparisons

34.2 32.739.3

23.331.6

25.5

0

20

40

60

80

100

Ryerson Ontario Carnegie Peers Ryerson Ontario Carnegie Peers

First-Year Students Senior Students

BenchmarkActive and Collaborative Learning

• Active– where students learn by doing, by hands-on

experimentation or where they get the opportunity to think through to a realization

• Collaborative– where students work in

teams or groups towards

a common goal

Active and Collaborative Learning Benchmark Comparisons

51.243.5

51.139.9 41.3

35.0

0

20

40

60

80

100

Ryerson Ontario Carnegie Peers Ryerson Ontario Carnegie Peers

First-Year Students Senior Students

Benchmark Level of Academic Challenge

• Challenging intellectual and creative work

• High expectations for student performance

Level of Academic Challenge Benchmark Comparisons

52.5 51.2 50.757 55.8 55.3

0

20

40

60

80

100

Ryerson Ontario Carnegie Peers Ryerson Ontario Carnegie Peers

First-Year Students Senior Students

What can you do to improve student engagement at Ryerson?

• Issue: commuter school– Lags behind other schools in the areas

of student-faculty interaction and supportive campus environment

– Many students (60% employed in 2006—81% off-campus)

– Parental education-54% of parents have a BA in 2006

What are you doing well? What could you be doing more of? Ideas?

• Supportive campus environments • Enriching educational experiences • Students interactions with faculty• Level of academic challenge• Active and collaborative learning

What have we done at Western with NSSE?

• One of the documents used to frame our 2006 strategic plan “Engaging the Future”

• Utilized by the Dean of Science to frame his Academic Plan for 2007-2011

• Participated in HEQCO funded research on NSSE (bioliteracy project)

AACU Effective Educational Practices

• 1st Yr Seminars- Univ. of Guelph• Learning Communities- Univ. Of Toronto,

Dalhousie• Writing-Intensive Courses- Univ. of PEI• Collaborative Assignments and Projects-

Ryerson, McMaster• “Science as Science is Done”; Undergraduate

Research-Univ. of Victoria, Dalhousie• Service-Learning, Internships- St. Francis-Xavier• Diversity/ Global Learning – Royal Roads,

Queen’s• Capstone Courses- Ryerson, Univ. of Toronto

Example: UBC

• Issues: – Large commuter school – 30% 1st Gen, 40% first language is

Chinese

• Initiatives:– www.events.ubc.ca common calendar– Commuter Students Hostel – www.terry.ubc.ca Arts and Science

interdisciplinary course on global issues

What are the barriers to engagement ?

• “Content Tyranny”• Reinforcement of the status quo-

students don’t always want change• Large vs small classes, higher vs

lower level classes• Funding• Institutional size

What can individual faculty members do to increase engagement?

• Make yourself available• Read inattentive behaviours • Give prompt feedback• Monitor your students• Foster social connections• Design high impact courses for 1st

and senior year

References

• Boyer, E.L. (1990). Scholarship reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate. Princeton, NJ: Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Learning.

• Chickering, A. W. & Gamson, Z. F.(1987). “Seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education”, American Association of Higher Education Bulletin, pp. 3-7.

• Kinzie, J. & Pennipede, B.S.(2009). Converting Engagement Results into Action. New Directions for Institutional Research, 141, 83-96.

• Kuh, G. (2003). What we’re learning about student engagement from NSSE. Change March/ April , 24-32

• Mighty, J.(2006).From admission to graduation:opportunities and strategies for student engagement. Paper presented at Fall Perspectives on Learning, UWO, London, Canada

• National Survey on Student Engagement 2008 Results. http://nsse.iub.edu/NSSE_2008_Results/. Last retrieved on January 4, 2010.

• Steffes, J.S.( 2004). Creating powerful learning environments beyond the classroom. Change, 36(3), 46-50.

• Promoting Student Success: NSSE Deep Practice Briefs http://nsse.iub.edu/institute/?view=deep/briefs. Last retrieved on January 4, 2010.

• Ryerson University. University Planning Office, Reports and Student Surveys http://www.ryerson.ca/upo/reports/. Last retrieved on January 4, 2010