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In The News
November 15, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Survey Says CSU Dominguez Hills
Offers Engaging Environment for Students
Results shared with USA Today in recently published focus on NSSE
(Carson,
CA) – Results from a survey of first-year
students and seniors at California State University, Dominguez
Hills (CSUDH) indicate that the university is providing
students with a supportive campus environment that is also
as academically challenging and engaging as similar universities
nationwide.
For the past six years, CSUDH has been participating in
the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), an assessment
that focuses on how effectively universities engage their
students in academic endeavors by going to the source: students.
The 85-question survey asks a randomly selected sampling
of first-year students and seniors how actively involved
they are with their studies, professors, and the campus community,
all of which have proven effective in bolstering student
learning.
Until now, universities have not
made data from NSSE (pronounced “nessie”)
public. However, this year, Cal State Dominguez Hills — along
with more than 250 other universities nationwide — agreed
to share its results with USA Today. On Nov. 5, the national
newspaper published those results along with a series of
articles. One article, “What Schools Across the USA
are Doing to Engage Students,” featured the Dominguez
Hills Toro First Year program as an example of what universities
are doing to support first-generation students. The article
is available online at www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-11-04-nsse-good-things_N.htm.
CSU Dominguez Hills’ participation in the NSSE/USA
Today partnership comes in advance of an accountability
initiative announced this week by the California State
University. As part of a national project called the Voluntary
System of Accountability, CSU has committed to launching
the College Portrait, a report that each of the CSU’s
23 campuses will provide on their web sites by 2009. College
Portrait will include charts, graphs and statistics related
to student learning and engagement, as well as enrollment
and graduation. NSSE results will be among that data. The
press release from the CSU is available online at www.calstate.edu/PA/news/2007/voluntary_system.shtml
The questions posed in NSSE cover five
bench¬marks:
Level of Academic Challenge, Active and Collaborative Learning,
Student-Faculty
Interaction, Enriching Educational Experiences, and Supportive
Campus Environment, with the results of each benchmark expressed
on a 100-point scale. An individual university’s results
prepared by NSSE also include a side-by-side comparison with
similar universities. More than 600 universities throughout
the United
States and Canada participate in the survey, representing
all types of public and private higher education insitutions.
As part of its series, USA Today
created an online database of each participating university’s
results and comparisons in the five benchmarks (www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-11-04-nsse-how-to_N.htm).
Dominguez Hills faired well among its peer universities.
For example, compared to students from peer institutions,
a larger majority of those CSUDH first-year students and
seniors surveyed answered positively to questions related
to the Supportive Campus Environment benchmark. More specifically,
46% of Cal State Dominguez Hills first-year students (compared
to 30% from the peer group) said the institution substantially
helped students cope with non-academic matters.
Other examples include 64% of first-time students compared
to 55% from peer universities responded affirmatively when
asked if the university encourages contact among diverse
peers, an Enriching Educational Experiences benchmark question;
and 74% of seniors at CSUDH (compared to 56% from peer universities)
said they made classroom presentations, a mark of the Active
and Collaborative Learning benchmark.
Universities often use the information
gleaned from NSSE to implement initiatives aimed to address
those benchmark
areas. Cal State Dominguez Hills’ NSSE results were
the impetus for a number of programs in recent years, including
Associated Student Inc.’s Adopt-A-Freshman mentoring
program, the expansion of the Toro First Year program mentioned
in the article, and the University 101 orientation course
for first-time students, which will become mandatory next
year in part due to NSSE.
“It’s rewarding to see that the NSSE results
show that our efforts to provide an engaging and supportive
campus environment are recognized and appreciated by our
students,” said Acting Provost and Vice President of
Academic Affairs Sam Wiley. “We are particularly pleased
that initial offerings of University 101, a course designed
to orient freshmen to university life and academic expectations,
are showing promising results in increasing the successful
continuation of our students from the freshman to the sophomore
year.”
For more information on NSSE, visit www.nsse.iub.edu/index.cfm.
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About
CSU Dominguez Hills -- California
State University, Dominguez Hills is a highly diverse,
urban university located in the South Bay, primarily
serving the
Los Angeles metropolitan area. The university prides itself
on its outstanding faculty and friendly, student-centered
environment.
Known for excellence in teacher education, nursing, psychology,
business administration, and digital media arts, new degree
programs include computer science, criminal justice,
recreation and leisure
studies, social work, and communication disorders. On campus
is the Home Depot Center, a multi-purpose sports complex
that hosts
world-class soccer, tennis, track and field, lacrosse, and
cycling.
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