NSSE: National Survey of Student Engagement

.2003 Invitation to Participate

Your Invitation to Participate in NSSE 2003

"As an educator, I think it's an embarrassment that we can tell people almost anything about education except how well students are learning."

- Patrick M. Callan,
National Center for Public Policy
and Higher Education

We invite you to participate in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) next spring. Now in its fourth year, the NSSE (pronounced "nessie") survey has been used by more than 600 different colleges and universities. The results of the survey will give you useful information about the quality of undergraduate learning and contribute to national benchmarks of effective educational practice.

The NSSE survey instrument, The College Student Report, is short, reliable, and easy for students to complete. The survey asks undergraduates about how they spend their time, what they feel they've gained from classes, their assessment of the quality of their interactions with faculty and friends, and other important activities.

What is NSSE?

"NSSE is a major step forward in the ongoing quest for effective ways to assess learning outcomes, academic quality, and institutional effectiveness."

- Thomas C. Longin, Vice President,
Association of Governing Boards of
Universities and Colleges

An alternative view of collegiate quality that focuses on learning.
A versatile research-based tool that provides usable information for institutional improvement.
Reliable, credible information about the quality of the undergraduate experience that can be used by accreditors, prospective students, and others.
An annual assessment of how institutions are performing on effective teaching and learning activities.

National Benchmarks of Effective Educational Practice

Level of academic challenge
Enriching educational experiences
Student-faculty interation
Active and collaborative learning
supportive campus environment

NSSE Survey Administration

"NSSE is an invaluable tool for us in responding to the revised WASC accreditation guidelines and reconceptualizing the objectives for our entire educational program - curricular and co-curricular programs, pedagogy, and the campus culture…"

- Pamela Jolicoeur, Provost,
California Lutheran University

The survey is administered each spring to random samples of first-year and senior students at four-year colleges and universities. Two-year colleges may use the Community College Survey of Student Engagement.
The survey questions can be answered via a paper questionnaire or on the Web.
Random sampling ensures that the results are comparable, meaningful, and credible.
Institutions provide a student data file and customized invitation letters to NSSE. All other aspects of survey administration are handled by NSSE (drawing random samples, mailing surveys, follow-up with non-respondents, data collection, and analysis).
Sample sizes are determined by the number of undergraduates and the survey administration mode.
Oversampling and local administration options are available to increase the number of respondents and to reduce sampling error.
Students who completed the survey as first-year students in NSSE 2000 may be included in the 2003 sample as seniors for follow-up purposes.

Getting Your Results

"If one believes, as I do, that engagement or involvement is a good predictor of learning, then the NSSE survey not only gives us feedback about how well we are doing, it also helps us diagnose weaknesses and to strategize how we can become the learning university we want to be."

- Robert Glidden, President,
Ohio University

NSSE schools receive a detailed analysis that includes:

Institutional report - a data file, means summary report, and frequency distribution along with comparative means and frequency data.
National report - summary narrative discussing the benchmarks of effective practice.
Benchmark report - a comparison of your institution with the national benchmarks.
Institutional engagement index - a comparison of actual results to predicted results.
PowerPoint presentation - a customizable presentation to help you share your data.

Using NSSE Data

"NSSE is a great way to stimulate reflection and debate about what we do more and less well, and why. It's proving an exciting and enlivening tool for self-reflection and self-improvement."

- Michael McPherson, President,
Macalester College

NSSE provides campuses with information that they can use almost immediately to improve various aspects of their performance and help students get the most out of their college experience. Schools are using their NSSE survey results in many ways, including:

Assessment and improvement

Benchmarking

Accountability

Institutional research

Accreditation

Retention

Reform activities

Alumni outreach

Grant writing

Recruitment and promotion

Self-studies

State system comparison

A number of state and university systems have participated in NSSE to help gauge performance in areas such as institutional effectiveness, general education, and student satisfaction.

Registration

Please register online for NSSE 2003 at http://www.iub.edu/~nsse/html/registration.cfm .
Register early as space is limited. The deadline for registration is September 20, 2002.
To register you need to:
- Provide information about your institutional contact (name, address, e-mail, phone, fax).
- Electronically sign the NSSE 2003 Institutional Participant Agreement.
- Select your mode of survey administration and corresponding sample size.
- Indicate if you want to participate in oversampling local administration, longitudinal follow-up of seniors who completed the survey in 2000, or a consortium or state system.

Institutional Participant Agreement

By registering and participating in NSSE 2003, institutions agree to the following:

NSSE staff will use the data in the aggregate for national and sector reporting purposes and other undergraduate improvement initiatives.
Your institutions can use your own NSSE data for institutional purposes.
NSSE results specific to each institution and identified as such will not be made public except by agreement between the NSSE and the institution.

Costs

Institutional Participation Fee (required): $300 (non-refundable)

Survey Administration Mode (required):

Paper. Students receive a paper invitation to participate, a hard copy of The Report, and the option of completing a Web version of The Report.

Web-only. Students receive a paper announcement, subsequent correspondence by e-mail, and complete the Web version of The Report. Require accurate student e-mail addresses.

Sampling Fee (required):

Undergraduate Enrollment	Sample Size Paper/Web-only	Fee
Less than 4,000	450*/900	$2,700
4,000 to 15,000	700/1,400	$4,200
More than 15,000	1,000/2,000	$6,000

* Institutions that do not meet the minimum sample size should contact NSSE to discuss cost.

Oversampling fee (optional):

NSSE Oversampling -NSSE handles all aspects of data collection.

Paper Mode	$6 each
Web-Only Mode First 1,000 students Additional students over 1,000	$2 each $1.50 each

Local Oversampling -requires the institution to distribute and collect surveys and return completed instruments to NSSE for analysis and reporting..

Local Oversampling

$1.50 each

Longitudinal Follow-up of Seniors (optional):

NSSE 2000 institutions can use a combination of random and targeted oversampling to make certain that students who completed the survey as first-year students in 2000 are included in the 2003 sample as seniors.

Consortium and State or University Systems (optional):

A consortium is a group of 8 or more participating NSSE colleges or universities that intends to share comparative, aggregated data within their group. State or university systems can also utilize this option. For a fee, consortium and system schools may ask up to 20 additional questions developed and agreed upon by member institutions.

Undergraduate Enrollment	Fee (per institution)
Less than 4,000	$150
4,000 to 15,000	$300
More than 15,000	$450

Want More Information?

National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)
Indiana University
Center for Postsecondary Research
1900 East Tenth Street
Eigenmann Hall, Suite 419
Bloomington, IN 47406-7512

Phone: 812.856.5824
Fax: 812.856.5150
E-mail: nsse@indiana.edu