AUSSE - survey of student engagement
Did you know that in 2007, Australian students reported that:
- 36.4% of students ‘often’ or ‘very often’ worked harder than they thought they could
- Education students have a higher level of academic challenge than their counterparts (49.3 on the Academic Challenge scale, compared to 41.8 for Information Technology)
- 24.9% of students have never made a class or online presentation
- 34.5% of have never discussed grades or assignments with teaching staff, and 45.4% have only ‘sometimes’ discussed them
- Students engaging in on-campus employment had a higher than average overall score than students who did not work on campus
- A total of 56.6% of Australian students felt that their institutions provide them with the support they need to succeed academically ‘quite a bit’ or ‘very much’
AUSSE La Trobe Report 2009
The report for La Trobe is now available to download. Please see the download link on the right hand column of this page.
AUSSE 2009
The AUSSE will be administered by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) on behalf of La Trobe University between July 27- August 31. The AUSSE has been designed to gain valuable data for universities to use in implementing strategies for the attraction, retention and engagement of learners.
High impact activities delivered within and alongside the curriculum, as well as social interaction and learning support has been demonstrated to improve student learning outcomes.
Academic staff will also be surveyed (Staff Survey of Student Engagement, SSES) to better understand their perceptions on how students engage in different learning activities and the results of this should help to identify gaps between student and staff expectations and will be critical as La Trobe undertakes a program of curriculum renewal and student engagement and enrichment.
The AUSSE measures many different aspects of first- and later-year bachelor degree students’ engagement in university education. Among many new insights on how students interact with university, we discovered in 2007 that:
- international students spend more time on campus then domestic students, with most students spending between one and five hours per week, excluding time in class
- three-quarters of campus-based students do at least a quarter of their study online
- students’ interactions with staff and participation in ‘enriching’ educational activities are particularly low – perceptions of individual support and challenge are higher
- students become more engaged in university study between first and third years, although third-year students see themselves as being less supported by staff
- participation in key developmental activities such as internships, foreign language study, community service or a study group is low but increases across the years
- students are more satisfied, perform better academically and are less likely to drop out when high standards are set and they are provided with integrated support to help them succeed
Your help in promoting the survey
To help us gain a reasonable response rate from staff and students, your help in any of the following areas is appreciated:
- First and third year lecturers show a prepared slide to students
- Raise AUSSE as an agenda item at faculty/school meetings
- Promote AUSSE to students or staff through faculty/school newsletters or website
- Consider ways the data can be used within your faculty/school
More information on AUSSE
The University recently hosted a National Student Engagement Forum featuring Professor George Kuh of Indiana University, one of the founding members of the National Survey of Student Engagement (USA). Also presenting was Dr Hamish Coates of ACER who has established the AUSSE in Australia and New Zealand.
Hear what they have to say here: www.latrobe.edu.au/studentengagement/forum09.html
For more information
Ngaere Blair, Manager Student Engagement
Phone: 9479 3425
n.blair@latrobe.edu.au
www.latrobe.edu.au/studentengagement