The Satisfied Student October 4 th, 2007

Today’s Presentation  Present data from Case’s Senior Survey and the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)  Focus on student satisfaction and factors that predict student satisfaction  Compare year-to-year results on items related to student satisfaction

Case’s Senior Survey  Given to students at the time of spring graduation  High response rate (72% in the past 5 years)  Three items focus specifically on general satisfaction with Case:  Overall satisfaction with the educational experience  Willingness to recommend Case to a graduating High School senior  Likelihood of choosing Case again if given a choice  Other items include:  Satisfaction with Case facilities and departments (career center, UCS, UHS, bursar)  Opportunities their undergraduate experience provided (opportunities for research, internship, study abroad)  Skills they developed while at Case (analytical/logical thinking, effective writing skills, appreciation of art)

Satisfaction Over Time

 A one-way ANOVA with year as the factor revealed that, for all three satisfaction items, scores in the past 5 years are significantly higher than scores in 2001 and 2002

Correlates with Satisfaction  High sample size (N = 3676) ensures that nearly all questionnaire items will be significantly correlated with the three satisfaction measures  What follows is a list of items significantly correlated with all three satisfaction measures at a level of r =.30 or greater

Correlates with Satisfaction Satisfaction w/Educational Experience Would Recommend Case Would Choose Case Again Attitude of faculty toward students Quality of academic instruction Opportunities for personal involvement in activities Social Life on Campus Sense of Community on Campus All correlations significant at the p <.001 level

Correlates with Satisfaction Satisfaction w/Educational Experience Would Recommend Case Would Choose Case Again Attitude of faculty toward students Quality of academic instruction Opportunities for personal involvement in activities Social Life on Campus Sense of Community on Campus All correlations significant at the p <.001 level  The two strongest correlates with overall satisfaction are academic aspects of the undergraduate experience, whereas the two strongest correlates with recommending Case and choosing Case again are social aspects of the undergraduate experience

Satisfaction Over Time

Summary  Scores on measures of satisfaction in the past 5 years are significantly higher than scores in 2001 and 2002  Of the four measures most strongly associated with student satisfaction, two—attitude of faculty towards students and social life on campus—have been steadily increasing since 2001  For the other two measures—quality of academic instruction and sense of community on campus—the pattern is more variable, with peak scores occurring in 2005 and 2006 respectively

National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)  NSSE is given to students in the spring of their first- year and senior year.  Students are asked 80+ questions about the extent to which they are engaged in learning both in and out of the classroom.  From these 80+ questions, NSSE has developed five conceptually and statistically valid “benchmark” scales.

NSSE Benchmarks  Benchmark scales include “ Active and Collaborative Learning, “ “Academic Challenge,” “Student-Faculty Interactions,” and “Supportive Campus Environment.”  In 2005 the calculation of the fifth benchmark “Enriching Educational Experiences,” was changed, making pre-2005 longitudinal comparisons of this scale unreliable.

Analysis  Two linear regression analyses were calculated to determine if first- year scores on the 4 NSSE benchmark scales predicted senior year satisfaction with Case  Satisfaction was measured with two items:  How would you evaluate your entire educational experience at this institution? (1 = poor, 2 = fair, 3 = good, 4 = excellent)  If you could start over again, would you go to the same institution you are now attending? (1 = definitely no, 2 = probably no, 3 = probably yes, 4 = definitely yes)  For students to be included in the analyses they were required to have completed the NSSE during both their first and senior years  The resulting sample consisted of 436 students

Results Senior Year Outcomes Satisfaction with ExperienceWould Attend Again First-Year Predictors:Beta(SE)Beta(SE) Academic Challenge Active and Collaborative Learning Student-Faculty Interaction Supportive Campus Environment.27* *.003 * p <.001.  Results indicate that the “Supportive Campus Environment” benchmark is the only significant first-year predictor of the two senior year satisfaction outcomes.

Supportive Campus Environment Over Time (First-year responses)  First-year students’ scores on the Supportive Campus Environment benchmark reached their peak in 2004

Summary  Results indicate that Supportive Campus Environment is the only benchmark that is a significant predictor of senior year satisfaction  Longitudinal analysis indicates that the Supportive Campus Environment scale reached its peak among first-year students in 2004  The class that took NSSE during the peak year of 2004 is last year’s senior class, the last senior class for which we have satisfaction data  This regression model is good for determining which of the four benchmarks are most strongly related to satisfaction; however, refinements are needed to accurately predict senior year satisfaction from first-year responses

Thank you!  Questions/Comments?  Ideas for future analyses?  Contact: Tom Geaghan