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NSSE

National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)

The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) is administered on a triennially at the University of Oklahoma to all first year and senior students. The survey is designed to obtain information from hundreds of first year and seniors students from four-year colleges and universities nationwide about their participation in programs and activities that institutions provide for learning and personal development. Survey items on The National Survey of Student Engagement represent empirically confirmed "good practices" in undergraduate education. That is, they reflect behaviors by students and institutions that are associated with desired outcomes of the institutions. Although NSSE does not assess student learning directly, it certainly provides insights on how students utilize their time and effort, how challenged or supported they feel at the University of Oklahoma, and how much they perceived to have grown personally and academically as a result of their attendance to college.

NSSE results provide a wealth of data to inform accreditation self-studies, benchmarking efforts, faculty and staff development programs, strategic plans, improvement initiatives, recruitment materials, student support initiatives, and more. The results also provide an understanding of how undergraduate students spend their time and what they gain from attending college. Specifically, NSSE consists of the following four Engagement Themes, consisting of set of related survey items organized into 10 Engagement Indicators. The themes were adapted from NSSE’s former Benchmarks of Effective Educational Practice.


Academic challenge

  • Higher-Order Learning
  • Reflective & Integrative Learning
  • Learning Strategies
  • Quantitative Reasoning

Learning with peers

  • Collaborative Learning
  • Discussions with Diverse Others

 Experiences with faculty

  • Student-Faculty Interaction
  • Effective Teaching Practices

 Campus environment

  •  Quality of Interactions
  • Supportive Environment