2009 National Survey of Student Engagement
NC State University First-Year Students and Seniors
Compared to NSSE Institutions Overall and Our Self-Selected Peer Group
Background and Overview of Report
NC State University was one of 643 four-year colleges and universities nationwide participating in the 2009 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). The NSSE asks first-year students and seniors about their experiences in activities that existing research shows to be related to positive learning and developmental outcomes. NSSE combines various items in the survey to create "benchmark" measures in five specific categories: Active and Collaborate Learning, Student-Faculty Interaction, Supportive Campus Environment, Enriching Educational Experiences, and Level of Academic Challenge.
All NC State first-year students and all seniors expected to graduate in May 2009 were invited to participate in the online survey. 1,147 of the 4,514 eligible first-year students (25%) and 1,014 of the 3,148 eligible seniors (32%) completed the survey. NC State’s overall response rate of 28% was lower than the NSSE average for all participating institutions (36%), but was identical to that of our self-selected peer group consisting of the 18 large (20,000+ undergraduate enrollment), public ‘very high activities’ Research Universities (VHRU) that participated in the 2009 NSSE. (See " NC State NSSE Peer Groups: Characteristics and Institutions" for a list of VHRU peer institutions.) More information on the demographics of the NC State survey population members and respondents is provided in NC State NSSE Population and Respondent Characteristics and Response Rates.
A separate report provided by NSSE, The Student Experience in Brief, provides a summary of findings for NC State. In the current report we highlight comparisons between NC State, all participating NSSE institutions, and our VHRU peer group. After a brief summary we focus on results for each of the individual NSSE benchmarks, pointing out particularly noteworthy (i.e., substantively interesting) differences between the groups on specific items included in the benchmark category. The benchmark results are followed by a summary of the findings for other NSSE items not included in any of the benchmark categories. Given the different experiences of first-year students and seniors, results are presented separately for the two groups.
For each category (benchmark and non-benchmark) there is a link to a downloadable Excel file with a "dashboard" display listing each of the items included in the category, along with an easy-to-view indication of whether or not there is a statistically significant difference between the responses of NC State students and those at our VHRU peer institutions as a whole, and with the participating UNC system schools as a whole. Detailed tables of results with means, standard deviations, and effect sizes for significant differences between NC State and our peer are available in the "Mean Ratings" document. Finally, frequency distributions of responses to all questions from NC State and our two peer groups are available in the "Frequency Distributions" document.
Summary of Findings
Based on NC State’s average ratings, we do not appear to rank in the top half of all NSSE participating institutions on any of the benchmark measures for either first-year students or seniors. This finding, however, is not unexpected given the focus of the survey, our primary role as an engineering and technology intensive research university, and the predominance of non-research colleges in the NSSE population.
More importantly, NC State fares quite well relative to our selected VHRU peer group. In most cases both our first-year students and seniors give more positive ratings, and in no case do our students give lower ratings, to any of the overall benchmark measures compared to our peers. Specifically, both NC State first-year students and seniors give higher average ratings than their VHRU peers on the Supportive Campus Environment, Active and Collaborate Learning, and Student-Faculty Interaction benchmarks. NC State seniors give higher ratings on average than their VHRU peers on the Enriching Educational Experiences benchmark, while first-year students and their VHRU peers give similar ratings. There are no differences between NC State and our VHRU peers on the Level of Academic Challenge benchmark for first-year students or seniors.
Both first-year students and seniors are more likely than their VHRU peers to say they have had an excellent educational experience at NC State, and that they would choose to attend NC State if could they start over again. They also give higher ratings to the rigor of NC State’s academic environment than their peers do to their respective institutions, but at the same time are more likely to say NC State provides the support they need to be successful. NC State students are more positive than their VHRU peers about the extent to which their university has contributed to their growth and development in a wide range of areas, including not surprisingly those related to technology, but also areas such as critical thinking, working with others and on their own, and acquiring work-related knowledge and skills.
NC State students appear to have better relationships with their faculty than do their VHRU peers. First-year students in particular are more heavily engaged in their classes than their peers are, while seniors are more likely than their peers to have participated in enrichment activities such as internships, capstone courses, and community service.
Finally, NC State students report having fewer outside obligations than their VHRU peers, such as employment or caring for dependents. Perhaps as a result, they are more likely than their peers to participate in campus events and to engage in physical fitness activities, and, among seniors, to spend time relaxing and socializing.
Benchmarks
Other NSSE Items (non Benchmark)| Dashboard
NC State University was one of 643 four-year colleges and universities nationwide participating in the 2009 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). The NSSE asks first-year students and seniors about their experiences in activities that existing research shows to be related to positive learning and developmental outcomes. NSSE combines various items in the survey to create "benchmark" measures in five specific categories: Active and Collaborate Learning, Student-Faculty Interaction, Supportive Campus Environment, Enriching Educational Experiences, and Level of Academic Challenge.
All NC State first-year students and all seniors expected to graduate in May 2009 were invited to participate in the online survey. 1,147 of the 4,514 eligible first-year students (25%) and 1,014 of the 3,148 eligible seniors (32%) completed the survey. NC State’s overall response rate of 28% was lower than the NSSE average for all participating institutions (36%), but was identical to that of our self-selected peer group consisting of the 18 large (20,000+ undergraduate enrollment), public ‘very high activities’ Research Universities (VHRU) that participated in the 2009 NSSE. (See " NC State NSSE Peer Groups: Characteristics and Institutions" for a list of VHRU peer institutions.) More information on the demographics of the NC State survey population members and respondents is provided in NC State NSSE Population and Respondent Characteristics and Response Rates.
A separate report provided by NSSE, The Student Experience in Brief, provides a summary of findings for NC State. In the current report we highlight comparisons between NC State, all participating NSSE institutions, and our VHRU peer group. After a brief summary we focus on results for each of the individual NSSE benchmarks, pointing out particularly noteworthy (i.e., substantively interesting) differences between the groups on specific items included in the benchmark category. The benchmark results are followed by a summary of the findings for other NSSE items not included in any of the benchmark categories. Given the different experiences of first-year students and seniors, results are presented separately for the two groups.
For each category (benchmark and non-benchmark) there is a link to a downloadable Excel file with a "dashboard" display listing each of the items included in the category, along with an easy-to-view indication of whether or not there is a statistically significant difference between the responses of NC State students and those at our VHRU peer institutions as a whole, and with the participating UNC system schools as a whole. Detailed tables of results with means, standard deviations, and effect sizes for significant differences between NC State and our peer are available in the "Mean Ratings" document. Finally, frequency distributions of responses to all questions from NC State and our two peer groups are available in the "Frequency Distributions" document.
Summary of Findings
Based on NC State’s average ratings, we do not appear to rank in the top half of all NSSE participating institutions on any of the benchmark measures for either first-year students or seniors. This finding, however, is not unexpected given the focus of the survey, our primary role as an engineering and technology intensive research university, and the predominance of non-research colleges in the NSSE population.
More importantly, NC State fares quite well relative to our selected VHRU peer group. In most cases both our first-year students and seniors give more positive ratings, and in no case do our students give lower ratings, to any of the overall benchmark measures compared to our peers. Specifically, both NC State first-year students and seniors give higher average ratings than their VHRU peers on the Supportive Campus Environment, Active and Collaborate Learning, and Student-Faculty Interaction benchmarks. NC State seniors give higher ratings on average than their VHRU peers on the Enriching Educational Experiences benchmark, while first-year students and their VHRU peers give similar ratings. There are no differences between NC State and our VHRU peers on the Level of Academic Challenge benchmark for first-year students or seniors.
Both first-year students and seniors are more likely than their VHRU peers to say they have had an excellent educational experience at NC State, and that they would choose to attend NC State if could they start over again. They also give higher ratings to the rigor of NC State’s academic environment than their peers do to their respective institutions, but at the same time are more likely to say NC State provides the support they need to be successful. NC State students are more positive than their VHRU peers about the extent to which their university has contributed to their growth and development in a wide range of areas, including not surprisingly those related to technology, but also areas such as critical thinking, working with others and on their own, and acquiring work-related knowledge and skills.
NC State students appear to have better relationships with their faculty than do their VHRU peers. First-year students in particular are more heavily engaged in their classes than their peers are, while seniors are more likely than their peers to have participated in enrichment activities such as internships, capstone courses, and community service.
Finally, NC State students report having fewer outside obligations than their VHRU peers, such as employment or caring for dependents. Perhaps as a result, they are more likely than their peers to participate in campus events and to engage in physical fitness activities, and, among seniors, to spend time relaxing and socializing.
Benchmarks
Supportive Campus Environment | Dashboard
NC State first-year students give higher ratings than their VHRU peers to every item in this NSSE benchmark category, while NC State seniors have higher ratings than their VHRU peers for the category overall.
Active and Collaborative Learning | Dashboard
NC State first-year students and seniors give higher ratings in this NSSE benchmark category than do their respective peers at participating VHRUs.
Student-Faculty Interaction | Dashboard
NC State first-year students and seniors give higher ratings in this NSSE benchmark category than do their respective peers at participating VHRUs.
Enriching Educational Experiences | Dashboard
NC State first-year students gave overall similar ratings to both their VHRU peers and all NSSE participants on this benchmark category, with a few noteworthy differences between individual items. NC State seniors give higher ratings than their VHRU peers in this NSSE benchmark category. They also give higher than average ratings compared to NSSE participants overall on several of the individual items in the category.
Level of Academic Challenge | Dashboard
NC State’s first-year students’ and seniors’ overall ratings in this NSSE benchmark category are similar to the combined ratings for their VHRU peers. However, in looking at the individual items making up the benchmark there are some slight differences between the groups, and one noteworthy difference between NC State and all participating NSSE institutions.
NC State first-year students give higher ratings than their VHRU peers to every item in this NSSE benchmark category, while NC State seniors have higher ratings than their VHRU peers for the category overall.
- NC State first-year students are more likely, on average, than NSSE participants and their VHRU peers to
- Say their institution "very much" provides the support they need to succeed academically (40% vs 33% and 33%, respectively)
- Say their institution does at least "some" to help them cope with their non-academic responsibilities (81% vs 76% and 74%, respectively)
- NC State first-year students are also more likely than their VHRU peers
- to give positive ratings (‘6’ or higher on a 7-point scale) to the quality of their relationships with
- Other students (62% vs 58%)
- Faculty (43% vs 38%)
- Administrative personnel and offices (33% vs 29%)
- To say their institution does "quite a bit" or "very much" to provide the support they need to thrive socially (54% vs 50%)
- NC State seniors are more likely than their VHRU peers
- To give positive ratings (‘6’ or higher on a 7-point scale) to the quality of their relationships with
- Other students (65% vs 59%)
- Faculty members (52% vs 45%)
- Administrative personnel and offices (37% vs 30%)
- To say their institution "very much" provides the support they need to succeed academically (31% vs 24%)
Active and Collaborative Learning | Dashboard
NC State first-year students and seniors give higher ratings in this NSSE benchmark category than do their respective peers at participating VHRUs.
- NC State first-year students are especially more likely than their VHRU peers to have
- Made a class presentation (89% vs 78%)
- Worked with other students on projects during class (91% vs 85%)
- Asked questions in class or contributed to class discussions "often" or "very often" (54% vs 50%)
- NC State seniors are especially more likely than NSSE participants overall and their VHRU peers to have "very often" worked with classmates outside of class to prepare class assignments (38% vs 25% and 29%, respectively)
- NC State seniors are especially more likely than their VHRU peers to have made a class presentation "often" or "very often" (57% vs 50%)
Student-Faculty Interaction | Dashboard
NC State first-year students and seniors give higher ratings in this NSSE benchmark category than do their respective peers at participating VHRUs.
- NC State first-year students are more likely than NSSE participants overall and their VHRU peers to have talked about career plans with a faculty member or advisor "often" or "very often" (41% vs 32% and 30%, respectively)
- NC State first-year students are more likely than their VHRU peers to have
- Received prompt written or oral feedback from faculty on their academic performance "often" or "very often" (57% vs 51%)
- Discussed grades or assignments with an instructor "often" or "very often" (50% vs 45%)
- NC State seniors are more likely than both NSSE participants overall and their VHRU peers to have worked on a research project with a faculty member outside of course or program requirements (30% vs 19% and 23%, respectively)
- NC State seniors are more likely than their VHRU peers to have
- Talked about career plans with a faculty member or advisor "often" or "very often" (46% vs 36%)
- Received prompt written or oral feedback from faculty on their academic performance "often" or "very often" (65% vs 57%)
- Worked with faculty members on activities other than coursework (56% vs 48%)
Enriching Educational Experiences | Dashboard
NC State first-year students gave overall similar ratings to both their VHRU peers and all NSSE participants on this benchmark category, with a few noteworthy differences between individual items. NC State seniors give higher ratings than their VHRU peers in this NSSE benchmark category. They also give higher than average ratings compared to NSSE participants overall on several of the individual items in the category.
- NC State first-year students are notably more likely than both NSSE participants overall and their VHRU peers to
- Say they "very often" use an electronic medium to discuss or complete an assignment (34% vs 26% and 28%, respectively)
- Report that their institution does "very much" or "quite a bit" to encourage contact among students from different economic, social, and racial or ethnic backgrounds (68% vs 59% and 59%, respectively)
- NC State first-year students are slightly less likely than their VHRU peers to have already participated in a learning community or some other formal program where groups of students take two or more classes (18% vs 25%)
- NC State seniors are more likely than NSSE participants overall, but similar to their VHRU peers in to spend more than five hours per week participating in co-curricular activities (32% vs 26% and 30%, respectively)
- NC State seniors are more likely than NSSE participants overall and their VHRU peers
- To "very often" use electronic medium to discuss or complete an assignment (40% vs 35% and 35%, respectively)
- To have already had a practicum, internship, field experience, or clinical assignment (68% vs 52% and 54%)
- To have engaged in community service or volunteer work (71% vs 60% and 64%)
- To have already been involved in culminating senior experience (capstone course, senior project or thesis, comprehensive exam, etc.) (43% vs 33% and 31%)
Level of Academic Challenge | Dashboard
NC State’s first-year students’ and seniors’ overall ratings in this NSSE benchmark category are similar to the combined ratings for their VHRU peers. However, in looking at the individual items making up the benchmark there are some slight differences between the groups, and one noteworthy difference between NC State and all participating NSSE institutions.
- Compared to all NSSE participating institutions, on average NC State first-year students are more likely to report spending more than 20 hours per week preparing for class (20% vs 25%)
- NC State first-year students are slightly more likely than their VHRU peers
- To say their coursework "very much" emphasizes applying theories or concepts to practical problems or in new situations (44% vs 39%)
- To say they "often" or "very often" worked harder than they thought they could to meet an instructor’s standards or expectations (56% vs 52%)
- Compared to their VHRU peers, NC State first-year students are somewhat less likely to have written either long (20 pages or more) or short (fewer than 5 pages) papers, and more likely to have written at least five moderate length (5 to 19 pages) papers during the current school year (40% vs 29%)
- NC State first-year students are slightly less likely than their VHRU peers to say they were assigned 11 or more textbooks, books, or book-length packs or course readings during the current school year (31% vs 37%)
- Compared to their VHRU peers, NC State seniors are slightly more likely to have written at least one paper or report that was 20 pages or more in length (53% vs 47%), and to have written at least at least five papers or reports that were between five and 19 pages (50% vs 44%). NC State seniors are less likely than their VHRU peers to have written five or more papers or reports that were shorter in length (55% vs 62%)
- NC State seniors are slightly less likely than their VHRU peers to say they were assigned 11 or more textbooks, books, or book-length packs or course readings during the current school year (29% vs 34%)
Other NSSE Items (non Benchmark)| Dashboard
- First-Year Students
- NC State first-year students were more likely than those from all NSSE participating institutions combined and their VHRU peers to say they would definitely choose to attend the same institution if they could start over again (55% vs 44% and 50%, respectively). They also are more likely, on average, than both groups to
- Say their institution "very much" emphasizes using computers in academic work (62% vs 51% and 54%)
- Say their institution contributed "very much" to their ability to
- Analyze quantitative problems (41% vs 31% and 35%)
- Use computing and information technology (49% vs 36% and 38%)
- Say their institution "very much" emphasizes attending campus events and activities (34% vs 28% and 30%)
- Say they "very often" exercise or participate in physical fitness activities (43% vs 34% and 35%)
- NC State first-year students are also more likely than NSSE participating institutions overall to say their examinations challenge them to do their best work (64% vs 52% gave a ‘6’ or ‘7’ on a 7-point scale)
- In addition to the items noted above, NC State first-year students were also notably more likely than their VHRU peers to
- Rate their entire educational experience as "excellent" (45% vs 39%)
- Have "very often" prepared two or more drafts of a paper or assignment before turning it in (22% vs 18%)
- Have "very often" worked on a paper or project that required integrating ideas or information from various sources (36% vs 29%)
- Have "very often" used email to communicate with an instructor (48% vs 37%)
- "Never" come to class without having completed the readings or assignments (21% vs 16%)
- Rate the quality of academic advising they have received as "excellent" (40% vs 32%)
- NC State first-year students are less likely, on average, than those at all NSSE participating institutions combined and their VHRU peers to
- Work for pay on campus (10% vs 20% and 17%)
- Work for pay off campus (15% vs 34% and 24%)
- Provide care for dependents living with them (13% vs 31% and 19%)
- Seniors
- NC State seniors were more likely, on average, than those from all NSSE participating institutions combined and their VHRU peers to say they would definitely choose to attend the same institution if they could start over again. (57% vs 43% and 48%), and to rate their entire educational experience at their institution as "excellent" (50% vs 38% and 39%)
- NC State seniors are more likely than all NSSE participating institutions and their VHRU peers to "very often" exercise or participate in physical fitness activities (40% vs 31% and 34%)
- NC State seniors are also more likely than all NSSE participating institutions, on average, to
- Spend more than 15 hours per week relaxing and socializing (27% vs 22%)
- Say their university "very much" or "quite a bit" emphasizes attending campus events and activities (65% vs 56%)
- In addition to the items noted above, NC State seniors were notably more likely than their VHRU peers to
- Have worked on a research project with a faculty member outside of their course or program requirements (30% vs 23%)
- Have "very often" used email to communicate with an instructor (61% vs 53%)
- Say their institution emphasized using computers in their academic work (69% vs 62%)
- Report that their college experience has contributed "very much" to their
- Ability to use computing and information technology (54% vs 45%)
- Ability to analyze quantitative problems (46% vs 40%)
- Acquiring job or work-related knowledge and skills (42% vs 36%)
- Ability to solve complex world problems (32% vs 27%)
- Ability to work effectively with others (47% vs 40%)
- NC State seniors are less likely, on average, than those at all NSSE participating institutions combined and their VHRU peers to
- Work for pay on campus (24% vs 27% and 30%)
- Provide care for dependents living with them (19% vs 42% and 29%)
- NC State seniors are less likely, on average, than those at all NSSE participating institutions to
- Work for pay off campus (52% vs 58%)
This report is also available as a MS Word document.
| For more information about NC State results contact: Dr. Nancy Whelchel, Associate Director for Survey Research North Carolina State University Office of Institutional Planning and Research Phone: (919) 515-4184 Email: Nancy_Whelchel@ncsu.edu |
For more information about NSSE contact: Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research Phone: (812) 856-5824 Email: nsse@indiana.edu Web: www.nsse.iub.edu |
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Posted: November, 2009