February 22, 2016
Virginia Wesleyan, like many colleges across the country,
participates in a comprehensive national student engagement survey. Every three
years, we extend an invitation to freshmen and graduating seniors to
participate in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE).
Through this survey, NSSE collects
information at hundreds of four-year colleges and universities about first-year
and senior students' participation in programs and activities that institutions
provide for their learning and personal development. The results provide an
estimate of how undergraduates spend their time and what they gain from
attending college.
Beginning tomorrow, Virginia Wesleyan freshmen who started in the fall and graduating seniors will have an opportunity to participate in the NSSE survey. These two classes of students will receive an invitation and a link to the survey. Students who complete the survey by April 1, 2016 will receive a $5 Wawa gift card. In addition, they will be entered in a drawing to win one of four $25 Starbucks gift cards.
According to NSSE’s website, student engagement represents two critical features of collegiate quality. The first is the amount of time and effort students put into their studies and other educationally purposeful activities. The second is how the institution deploys its resources and organizes the curriculum and other learning opportunities to get students to participate in activities that decades of research studies show are linked to student learning.
NSSE reports that more than 1,500 different colleges and universities in the US and Canada have participated in the survey since it was first administered in 2000. Like many institutions, we will use data from the survey to identify aspects of the undergraduate experience inside and outside the classroom that can be improved through changes in policies and practices more consistent with good practices in undergraduate education.
I encourage all freshmen and seniors to take the survey and I hope our faculty and staff will also encourage them to do so.
