Alexander McCormick: Keynote: What Do We Know About Quality? Lessons from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) in the USA. Over 600 American institutions are participating in NSSE.
Teaching is about Learning.
Therefore: Excellence in Teaching is about Excellence in Learning.
Accreditation is behind closed doors. It is mainly about capacity and resources. Limited attention is donated to teaching and learning. Research rankings are blind to undergraduate education. NSSE shifts the focus to teaching and learning.
NSSE asks students about their experience. Focus on behaviour. Base on empirically confirmed effective practices.
E.g. Students are asked for Challenging academic work: Time on task, deep approaches to learning, teachers feedback, …
NSSE is done by Web based survey financed by institutional fees.
Students are asked for Academic activities, reading and writing, active learning, cognitive tasks, enriching educational experiences, campus relationships …
Questions are about student behaviour, e.g.
How often have you done …
never, sometimes, often, everyday.
The questions are based on Bloom’s Taxonomy of educational objectives.
2 million students have been asked per year!
Important results:
Q: How many courses emphasize memorization?
Results: Students 1st year 69%, final year students 62%.
Instructors believe in 33% and 23% resp.
Q: Have any pattern of improvement been demonstrated?
55% first year students voted for a demonstration of a pattern of improvement , but only 36% final year students voted for it. Improvement of freshmen courses is easier.
Negative trends have been reported by 7%.
Similar results across all sizes, public/private, all types.
Most variations are between students, not between institutions.
Final Quote: „Culture eats strategy for breakfast.“
Position:Friedenstraße,Berlin,Deutschland