Measuring student engagement: findings from the Australasian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE)

1. Measuring student engagement: findings from the Australasian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE) Surveys for Enhancement Conference National College for School Leadership, Nottingham 19 May 2011 Ali Radloff Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) ausse@acer.edu.au

2. Elite Mass Universal Little data available on university students Focus on satisfaction & retention data Focus on effectiveness data

3. Why measure student engagement? And what is student engagement?

4. A student-centred perspective that reflects the wide range of academic and non-academic interactions that students have with their institution Individuals learn and develop through behavioural,cognitive and affective involvement with key educational practices A compelling idea People learn and develop when staff and institutions provide support likely to encourage involvement Student effort + institution and teacher support = desirable outcomes Established; relatively easy to assess; direct connections to improvement; built on research foundations; looks at change between years Link between students’ engagement and retention, completion and success as graduates

7. Developed over a decade, Australasia now has a source of quality-assured data on current students that is comparable across institutions Production of contextually nuanced reports, research briefings and enhancement guides Actionable institution reports for tracking and improvement More robust cross-institutional research techniques Commitment to measuring what counts for high-quality education

8. Engagement scales • Academic Challenge • Active Learning • Student and Staff Interactions • Enriching Educational Experiences • Supportive Learning Environment • Work Integrated Learning • Engagement scales • Outcome measures • Higher Order Thinking • General Learning Outcomes • General Development Outcomes • Career Readiness • Average Overall Grade • Departure Intentions • Overall Satisfaction

9. Undergraduate, coursework postgrad and academic staff Run with 55 universities and other institutions in 2010 Over 120,000 student responses Benchmarks with other institutions in Australasia and internationally Data on what students are doing Used for continuous improvement

10. International benchmarks - engagement scales first year students

11. Engagement & outcomes – international & domestic students

12. Engagement & outcomes – external & on-campus students

13. Hours spent on various activities during typical seven-day week

14. Hours spent on various activities during typical seven-day week - by time spent in paid work off campus

15. Involvement in active forms of learning

16. ‘Never’ given presentation in class or online – by broad field of education

17. Involvement in active forms of learning – by mode of study

18. Student and staff interactions

19. Later year students’ involvement in enriching educational experiences

20. Later year students – contribution of university experience to development of work-related knowledge and skills

21. Student departure intentions

22. Boredom Personal reasons Study-life balance Health or stress Difficulty with workload Personal reasons Academic exchange Quality concerns Boredom Financial difficulties Study-life balance Difficulty with workload Health or stress Needing paid work Family responsibilities Boredom Study-life balance Needing paid work Personal reasons Health or stress

23. Student departure intentions – link with institution support

24. Student departure intentions – link with institution support

25. Change through reporting • Do more for learning

26. Change through data collection

27. Change through research

29. Measuring student engagement: findings from the Australasian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE) Surveys for Enhancement Conference National College for School Leadership, Nottingham 19 May 2011 Ali Radloff Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) ausse@acer.edu.au