National Survey of Student Engagement, 2015

Results from the 2015 National Survey of Student Engagement

Each year first year students and seniors at hundreds of colleges and universities complete the National Survey of Student Engagement. The NSSE survey captures information about how much time students devote to learning, how involved they are in best learning practices, and how fully challenged and supported they feel by their college.

2015 NSSE results are summarized in ten engagement indicators, which fit within four themes of engagement:

Academic Challenge – Including Higher-Order Learning, Reflective and Integrative Learning, Quantitative Reasoning, and Learning Strategies
Learning with Peers – Including Collaborative Learning and Discussions with Diverse Others
Experiences with Faculty – Including Student-Faculty Interaction and Effective Teaching Practices
Campus Environment – Including Quality of Interactions and Supportive Environment

Table 1. NSSE 2015 Engagement Indicators: Auburn University first-year students compared with peer universities' first-year students

*Engagement Indicator*	*Indexed Mean^a*	*Indexed Mean^a*	*Sig.^b*	*Effect size^c*	*Indexed Mean^a*	*Sig.^b*	*Effect size^c*
	Auburn	Doc/Highest & Higher			NSSE Top 50%
Higher-Order Learning	91	95		-0.09	100	***	-0.25
Reflective & Integrative Learning	88	94	***	-0.18	100	***	-0.36
Learning Strategies	92	93		-0.05	100	***	-0.25
Quantitative Reasoning	94	97		-0.05	100	*	-0.10
Collaborative Learning	97	95		0.05	100		-0.08
Discussions with Diverse Others	93	97	*	-0.11	100	***	-0.21
Student-Faculty Interaction	83	82		0.02	100	***	-0.27
Effective Teaching Practices	90	92		-0.05	100	***	-0.32
Quality of Interactions	99	93	***	0.22	100		-0.05
Supportive Environment	98	95		0.09	100		-0.06

Table 2. NSSE 2015 Engagement Indicators: Auburn University seniors compared with peer universities' seniors

*Engagement Indicator*	*Indexed Mean^a*	*Indexed Mean^a*	*Sig.^b*	*Effect size^c*	*Indexed Mean^a*	*Sig.^b*	*Effect size^c*
	Auburn	Doc/Highest & Higher			NSSE Top 50%
Higher-Order Learning	93	92		0.01	100	***	-0.23
Reflective & Integrative Learning	88	92	**	-0.11	100	***	-0.37
Learning Strategies	92	92		0.00	100	***	-0.23
Quantitative Reasoning	97	97		0.00	100		-0.05
Collaborative Learning	106	93	***	0.31	100	***	0.15
Discussions with Diverse Others	97	97		0.01	100	*	-0.09
Student-Faculty Interaction	88	77	***	0.20	100	***	-0.22
Effective Teaching Practices	94	92		0.06	100	***	-0.20
Quality of Interactions	97	91	***	0.22	100	**	-0.11
Supportive Environment	104	92	***	0.29	100	*	0.10

Notes:

^a Means weighted by gender, enrollment status, and institutional size, then scaled (Mean of Top 50% = 100).

^b * p<.05, **p<.01, *** p<.001 (2-tailed).

^cEffect size is Cohen’s d, the standardized difference between the institution’s mean and the comparison group’s mean, calculated by dividing the mean difference by the pooled standard deviation.

AU scores are based on responses of 507 freshmen and 783 seniors (11% and 15% response rate), with a sampling error of +/- 4.1% for freshmen and +/- 3.2% for seniors.

Click here to see a comparison of Auburn's 2015 engagement indicators with those of national best performers.

Click here to visit the NSSE site.

Last updated: 03/09/2018