Freshmen and seniors asked to participate in National Survey of Student Engagement

Rider University will be participating this spring in the National Survey of Student Engagement, a respected national survey of freshmen and seniors to evaluate student engagement. The results of the survey will provide data on how undergraduates spend their time and what they gain from attending college. 

Rider is one of more than 600 colleges and universities participating in the National Study of Student Engagement (NSSE), now in its fifteenth year. Last year, over 371,000 students across the country completed the survey. All freshman and seniors will receive an email invitation from Provost DonnaJean Fredeen to participate in the survey on Feb. 25. The survey is online and can be completed at the student’s leisure. The survey closes in late April. 

Ron Walker, associate vice president of Academic Affairs, said, “Student engagement reflects 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 allocates its resources to deliver the curricula as well as support campus interactions linked to student learning and personal development. Teaching, learning, and student development are at the heart of this survey.” 

NSSE annually collects information about student participation in programs and activities that institutions provide for their learning and personal development. Rider will receive a report which compares our students’ responses with those of students at comparable institutions throughout the nation.

Walker said the NSSE survey items are centered on research-based “good practices” in undergraduate education, capturing behaviors by students and institutions that are associated with desired outcomes of college.

“This survey does not directly assess student learning,” Walker said. “But rather, the survey results point to areas where colleges and universities — both students, faculty, and staff — are performing well and where aspects of the undergraduate experience could be improved.” 

Generally, colleges use this data to identify aspects of the undergraduate experience inside and outside the classroom that can be improved through changes in policies and practices. “That is why it is so important that our freshman and seniors complete the survey,” Walker said. “We want to know how our students spend their time at Rider and what they gain from that experience.” 

“The survey takes less than fifteen minutes to complete,” Walker said. “We strongly encourage students to complete it, as the results are very important and helpful in future planning to build engagement of our students, both inside and outside of the classroom. The survey also encourages reflection by the student on what has gone into their educational experience here at Rider. This provides hard data of what makes up ‘the Rider experience.’”