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ORU Scores! in National Survey
By Jadell Forman (Class of 1990)
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Dr. Connie Sjoberg, director of ORU's Leadership Academy, says the data speaks highly of the university's commitment to student learning. "ORU's results from the National Survey of Student Engagement are a great indicator that our students are becoming more involved in their total educational experience."
Last spring, 1,282 ORU students took the survey (490 first-year students and 792 seniors). But they weren't alone. More than 750,000 students from 557 accredited colleges and universities across the United States also participated. NSSE provides a basis for schools to measure the degree to which their students engage with their faculty, curriculum, and campus experience. The university asks, "How are we doing?" and the students answer via responses to questions in five categories.
In two categories--Enriching Educational Experiences and Supportive Campus Environment--ORU students gave their school significantly higher scores than did students at all other participating NSSE institutions, e.g., Arizona State University (Tempe), the University of Nebraska (Omaha), Bethel University (St. Paul, Minn.), and Anderson University (Indiana). In the other three categories, ORU's scores were equal to or slightly better than those earned by other institutions.
The following is a summary of ORU students' responses in five key categories.
Enriching Educational Experience. NSSE states, "Complementary learning opportunities" and "diversity experiences," such as ORU's community service emphasis, foreign language requirement, and intramural sports program, contributed to the university rating dramatically higher than the other 556 schools.
Supportive Campus Environment. This category surveyed student satisfaction by measuring perceived support in academic, non-academic (work, family), and social areas, as well as quality of relationship with students, faculty, and university personnel. As with all other surveyed groups, first-year students rated their school higher than did seniors. Even so, ORU scored significantly higher in this category than all other participating institutions.
Active and Collaborative Learning. Questions are based upon the premise that "students learn more when they are intensely involved in their education." Questions evaluated class discussion, presentation, and interaction with others in- and outside the classroom. ORU's scores were slightly higher than those of other schools, thanks to the responses of both first-year and senior students.
Level of Academic Challenge. This category evaluates collegiate quality of education by surveying student activities such as preparing for class, reading, writing reports, and analyzing ideas. While ORU's first-year students scored their school in the middle of the pack, seniors scored it above the majority.
Student-Faculty Interaction. Based upon the premise that "students learn firsthand how experts think about and solve practical problems by interacting with faculty members," the survey asked students what kind of, and how much interaction they had with their instructors. ORU results were comparable to those of other institutions.
ORU uses these results to improve programs, commend performance, and build a case for accreditation. Noting the last category, Sjoberg said, "We want to see an improvement in student-faculty interaction." She and Dr. Cal Easterling, director of Institutional Research, continue to encourage deans and chairs to promote this kind of activity in their departments. Sjoberg's team has already presented the results in Deans' Council, Chairs' Council, and Vice Presidents' Council. Future plans include presentations of the results to the University Faculty Assembly and student groups.
In summary, Sjoberg says, "Student responses on the NSSE reveal that ORU is moving in the right direction in providing a supportive campus environment and an excellent educational experience for our students."
