The CCSSE (Community College Survey of Student Engagement) will be administered to Macomb students between Monday, March 28 and Wednesday, April 13. The CCSSE is celebrating its fifth year in ground-breaking efforts to promote institutional transparency and reporting on student learning. We, at Macomb, are proud to be part of these studies and use the feedback we receive to examine our educational practices and continuously improve them
What are the key findings about engagement and some related questions asked of students that can help us improve our teaching and learning at Macomb?
Active and Collaborative Learning:
During the current school year, how often have you:
- Asked questions in class or contributed to class discussions.
- Made a class presentation.
- Worked with other students on projects during class.
- Worked with classmates outside of class to prepare class assignments.
Student Effort:
During the current school year, how often have you:
- Prepared two or more drafts of a paper or assignment before turning it in.
- Worked on a paper or project that required integrating ideas or information from various sources.
- Come to class without completing readings or assignments.
Academic Challenge:
How much does your coursework at this college emphasize:
- Analyzing the basic elements of an idea, experience, or theory.
- Synthesizing and organizing ideas, information, or experiences in new ways.
- Making judgments about the value or soundness of information, arguments, or methods.
Student-Faculty Interaction
During the current school year, how often have you:
- Used e-mail to communicate with an instructor.
- Discussed grades or assignments with an instructor.
- Talked about career plans with an instructor or advisor.
- Discussed ideas from your readings or classes with instructors outside of class.
Support for Learners
How much does this college emphasize:
- Providing the support you need to help you succeed at this college.
- Encouraging contact among students from different economic, social, and racial or ethnic backgrounds.
- Helping you cope with your nonacademic responsibilities (work, family, etc.).
Student engagement means motivation, curiosity, attentiveness and interest that a student has for a given class. A student who is “engaged” is a student who has invested themselves in the class beyond getting a good grade. Student engagement also refers to the methods and tools that are used by educators to reach their students and their effectiveness.
To get a sense of some of the information that CCSSE aggregates, here are a few sample questions that are asked of faculty members:
- How often do students ask questions in class or contribute to class discussions?
- How often do students skip your class?
- How often do your students discuss ideas from their readings or classes with you outside of class?
Students are surveyed as well to gauge their learning experiences and these are a few of the questions that are asked of them:
- In your experiences at this college during the current school year, about how often have you asked questions in class or contributed to class discussions?
- About how often have you participated with other students on projects during class?
- About how often have you worked with instructors on activities other than coursework?
CCSSE is a nationally recognized tool, which is intended to aid institutions in improving their educational practices to provide more engaging learning experiences. To learn more about CCSSE and their standards for student engagement, by visiting their website at: www.ccsse.org
For a current editorial on engagement, read the Glossary of Education Reform: www.edglossary.org/student-engagement
Be sure to check out next month’s blog post for more on student engagement!
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