Community College Survey of Student Engagement – Some Oakton Results

Last spring Oakton participated in the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE). This survey, initiated in 2002, is drawing wide national attention. Modeled after the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), the counterpart survey for four-year institutions, the CCSSE claims to be a “much-needed tool for assessing quality in community college education.” Last spring 93 community colleges administered the CCSSE.

The CCSSE asks questions about institutional practices and student behaviors that research has shown to be highly correlated with student learning and retention. The survey is administered to students during randomly selected classes, and results are weighted to ensure full-time students do not dominate survey results. A total of 792 Oakton students completed usable CCSSE surveys, though not all students answered every question. The CCSSE methodology is very much like the methodology we use for our own Current Student Survey.

We have just received Oakton’s results, which will be made public by CCSSE late this fall. CCSSE noted that Oakton has a high performance, relative to other CCSSE colleges, in the area of Student-Faculty Interaction. CCSSE describes Student-Faculty Interaction as follows:

In general, the more contact students have with their teachers, the more likely they are to learn effectively and to persist toward achievement of their educational goals. Personal interaction with faculty members strengthens students’ connections to the college and helps them focus on their academic progress. Working with an instructor on a project or serving with faculty members on a college committee lets students see first-hand how experts identify and solve practical problems. Through such interactions faculty members become role models, mentors, and guides for continuous, lifelong learning.

Six survey items are used to create the Student-Faculty Interaction benchmark area. Survey items and Oakton’s results (the percent of respondents who answered very often or often) follow.

“In your experiences at this college during the current school year, about how often have you done each of the following?”	Pct. often or very often
Received prompt feedback (written or oral) from instructors on your performance	67%
Discussed grades or assignments with an instructor	43%
Used email to communicate with an instructor	35%
Talked about career plans with an instructor or advisor	21%
Discussed ideas from your readings or classes with instructors outside of class	18%
Worked with instructors on activities other than coursework	7%