Ohio University seniors reported better-than-average engagement in their education last year, but freshmen reported less engagement than their peers at other schools, according to a survey OU administrators and faculty are analyzing.
The National Survey of Student Engagement is conducted by Indiana University and compiles students' reports of their academic and extracurricular activities. In it, students rate their participation and satisfaction levels in classes and campus activities. The survey uses a four-point scale in which 1 means never and 4 means very often for most questions.
The survey portrays the senior experience at OU as challenging, with students reporting higher-than-average rates of reading and writing assignments, class presentations and community-based projects, said David Descutner, University College dean. OU ranked near or below average in all of these measures for freshmen.
I meet a lot of first-year students who feel they are not pushed enough intellectually
Descutner said.
OU seniors rated their engagement in class presentations a 2.90, compared to a response of 2.61 by students from OU's peer universities. Freshmen reported a 2.03, close to the peer average of 2.01. Participation in community projects was 1.73 for OU seniors, compared with 1.58 at peer institutions, while OU freshmen's 1.34 came in below their peer average of 1.41.
The number of OU seniors encountering more than 10 assigned textbooks books or book-length packs of course readings was 44 percent, compared with 34 percent of their peers. Only 34 percent of OU freshmen answered the same question affirmatively, compared with 38 percent of freshmen at peer schools.
About 30 percent of students responded to the 2005 survey, an important factor in judging the survey's accuracy, said Mike Williford, associate provost for Institutional Research.
We have to ensure that our responses are representative of our student body he said.
OU paid $8,000 to participate in the survey, Williford said, adding that major opinion polls can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
If students are reporting more engagement
then they are more likely to stay
he said. If students are not engaged
they don't have a lot of goals
and one place might be as good as another.
The lack of freshmen-level involvement has been used to make the case to fund first-year programs that improve the educational experience, Descutner said.
We want to expand first-year initiatives that we know work and fund them more fully
he said.
Residential learning communities, supplemental instruction and faculty advising are three targeted areas, Descutner said. The Undergraduate Priorities Committee, chaired by Faculty Senate co-chair David Ingram, prepared a joint report with Descutner's first-year experience task force and presented it to Provost Kathy Krendl and OU President Roderick McDavis.
Descutner said he hopes to have 1,000 students in residential learning communities next fall. There were 600 students in 38 communities Fall Quarter, twice as many as in the 21 communities offered the previous year.
Faculty have asked for better training in advising students, Descutner said. Students' survey responses show faculty do a lot of advising.
OU seniors reported a 2.56 for having talked about career plans with a faculty member or adviser
compared to the 2.33 average reported by 45 peer universities designated by the NSSE. However, those same seniors rated that advising a 2.64 where 1 was poor and 4 was excellent
compared with a 2.70 by students from OU's peer universities and a 2.94 for all seniors - from 529 schools - in the survey.
These significant differences can be used to make a case for increased funding in programs for freshmen students, Descutner said.
Williford said that this would help keep students and the revenue that comes with them.
