Improving the College Experience: National Benchmarks of Effective Educational Practice—NSSE 2001 Report

Abstract

The 2001 report from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) is based on information from first-year and senior students at 470 different four-year colleges and universities. The NSSE study, titled “From Promise to Progress: How Colleges and Universities Are Using Student Engagement Results to Improve Collegiate Quality,” gives schools an idea of how well students are learning and what they put into and get out of their undergraduate experience. The report focuses on how schools can use engagement data to improve their campuses. The report also contains the following findings: • Schools of similar sizes differ on the student engagement benchmarks, though students at smaller colleges are generally more engaged than their counterparts attending larger institutions. • A worrisome gap exists between the amount of time students spend on educational activities and how much time faculty members say they should be spending.