Spring Break
New UConn survey to start tomorrow
Joshua Clarke
Issue date: 2/16/09 Section: News
This month, select UConn students are being asked to participate in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) so the university can better understand how students feel about courses, programs and activities that are offered.
"The NSSE allows us to learn a little bit about what our students are doing - how they're spending their time," said Assistant Vice Provost Eric Soulsby. "And then that allows us to get a sense of, 'Are we providing appropriate support services? Are we providing appropriate academic challenges? Are there things that we should be doing differently?'"
For example, Soulsby said that if the NSSE results indicated students felt they did not get enough computer or technology activities in classes, the university could take steps to improve that.
Students asked to participate in the NSSE were randomly selected freshmen and seniors, Soulsby said. Almost all freshman and seniors were invited to participate.
"Since it is a valuable survey that is done nationally, we felt that it is important to try to get as many students to participate as possible," Soulsby said.
Soulsby hopes that the survey will have a high response rate because it will provide UConn with valuable information. He said it should take a student 10 to 15 minutes at the most to complete the survey.
Last week, Vice Provost Veronica Makowsky sent an email to selected students, explaining what the NSSE is and informing them that they will soon receive an e-mail, asking them to take the survey.
Students are scheduled to receive the e-mail from the NSSE on Feb. 16. Three additional e-mails will be sent in February and March to students who do not respond to the survey, according to NSSE material provided by Soulsby.
UConn usually receives the results of the survey during the summer, Soulsby said.
In 2007, UConn received a report in August that summarized UConn's data. In October, UConn received the NSSE annual report that summarized the data from all institutions that participated.
"The NSSE allows us to learn a little bit about what our students are doing - how they're spending their time," said Assistant Vice Provost Eric Soulsby. "And then that allows us to get a sense of, 'Are we providing appropriate support services? Are we providing appropriate academic challenges? Are there things that we should be doing differently?'"
For example, Soulsby said that if the NSSE results indicated students felt they did not get enough computer or technology activities in classes, the university could take steps to improve that.
Students asked to participate in the NSSE were randomly selected freshmen and seniors, Soulsby said. Almost all freshman and seniors were invited to participate.
"Since it is a valuable survey that is done nationally, we felt that it is important to try to get as many students to participate as possible," Soulsby said.
Soulsby hopes that the survey will have a high response rate because it will provide UConn with valuable information. He said it should take a student 10 to 15 minutes at the most to complete the survey.
Last week, Vice Provost Veronica Makowsky sent an email to selected students, explaining what the NSSE is and informing them that they will soon receive an e-mail, asking them to take the survey.
Students are scheduled to receive the e-mail from the NSSE on Feb. 16. Three additional e-mails will be sent in February and March to students who do not respond to the survey, according to NSSE material provided by Soulsby.
UConn usually receives the results of the survey during the summer, Soulsby said.
In 2007, UConn received a report in August that summarized UConn's data. In October, UConn received the NSSE annual report that summarized the data from all institutions that participated.
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