National Survey of Student Engagement, 2018

Results from the 2018 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.

2018 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 2018 Engagement Indicators: Auburn University first-year students compared with peer universities' first-year students

	Auburn	Doc/Highest & Higher			NSSE Top 50%
*Engagement Indicator*	*Indexed Mean^a*	*Indexed Mean^a*	*Sig.^b*	*Effect size^c*	*Indexed Mean^a*	*Sig.^b*	*Effect size^c*
Higher-Order Learning	99	97		0.06	100		-0.04
Reflective & Integrative Learning	92	96	**	-0.11	100	***	-0.24
Learning Strategies	98	94	*	0.10	100		-0.06
Quantitative Reasoning	102	98		0.06	100		0.03
Collaborative Learning	104	96	***	0.19	100	*	0.09
Discussions with Diverse Others	94	98	*	-0.11	100	***	-0.17
Student-Faculty Interaction	97	84	***	0.22	100		-0.05
Effective Teaching Practices	94	93		0.03	100	***	-0.19
Quality of Interactions	100	94	***	0.24	100		0.01
Supportive Environment	101	96	**	0.16	100		0.04

Table 2. NSSE 2018 Engagement Indicators: Auburn University seniors compared with peer universities' seniors

	Auburn	Doc/Highest & Higher			NSSE Top 50%
*Engagement Indicator*	*Indexed Mean^a*	*Indexed Mean^a*	*Sig.^b*	*Effect size^c*	*Indexed Mean^a*	*Sig.^b*	*Effect size^c*
Higher-Order Learning	92	94		-0.08	100	***	-0.25
Reflective & Integrative Learning	88	94	***	-0.17	100	***	-0.38
Learning Strategies	91	93		-0.05	100	***	-0.25
Quantitative Reasoning	97	98		-0.02	100		-0.06
Collaborative Learning	105	95	***	0.25	100	**	0.13
Discussions with Diverse Others	98	98		0.00	100		-0.07
Student-Faculty Interaction	86	79	**	0.13	100	***	-0.26
Effective Teaching Practices	91	93		-0.05	100	***	-0.26
Quality of Interactions	95	91	**	0.14	100	***	-0.18
Supportive Environment	98	94	*	0.10	100		-0.06

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 604 first-year students and 587 seniors (11% response rate), with a sampling error of +/- 3.8% for first-year students and +/- 3.8% for seniors.

Click here to see a comparison of Auburn's 2018 engagement indicators with those of national best performers.

Click here to visit the NSSE site.

Last updated: 08/23/2018