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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

Survey finds prestige has little to do with student satisfaction

The latest National Survey of Student Engagement reveals little relationship between the selectivity of a university and students’ experiences with faculty.

The report, “Bringing the Institution Into Focus: Annual Results 2014,” relies on data from more than 355,000 first-year and senior students at 622 United States colleges and universities, according to an IU news release.

NSSE’s annual survey seeks to provide colleges and universities with data that can help improve the undergraduate experience.

“Our findings challenge the conventional wisdom that certain characteristics of colleges and universities assure a high-quality educational experience,” NSSE Director Alexander McCormick said in the release.

The study also included a number of different findings.

Overall, black and Hispanic students reported a lower quality of interactions with fellow students, faculty and other staff, according to the results, but there were also a number of institutions in this survey where this difference was absent or reversed.

First-year students were more likely to perceive a positive academic environment if they met with their advisers more often.

Approximately one in three first-year students reported rarely meeting with their advisers. This proportion was higher among part-time, nontraditional-aged and commuting students, according to the University.

Almost all students reported their instructors putting notable emphasis on information literacy, including the skills of assessing the value of a source and using proper ?citations.

However, only 36 percent of seniors and 37 percent of first-years reported ever having discounted a source after assessing its value.

NSSE also found social media can be effective in promoting student engagement, particularly in collaborative learning.

On the other side, two-fifths of first years and one-third of seniors said social media significantly distracted them from their coursework.

The faculty surveyed spent more time on teaching-related activities than they did on research and advising, as the results indicate.

The findings suggest policy, practices and institutional culture can make a significant difference in students’ experiences, according to the ?University.

The NSSE’s report was sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

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