Students Can Voice Opinion About Colorado State University Experience in Online Survey

Colorado State University freshman and senior students have a chance to weigh in about their experience at the university via a national survey through June 2.

The survey, given by the National Survey of Student Engagement, measures how Colorado State stacks up to its peer institutions in ‘value added’ efforts such as student-faculty interaction, the level of academic challenge, active and collaborative learning, and enriched educational experiences.

The survey is available to students at the university by invitation from the National Survey of Student Engagement, which sends e-mail invitations and reminders to all 8,000 full and part-time freshmen and seniors at the university.

The survey is conducted each year as part of Colorado State’s voluntary accountability program, which is designed to help the university improve services to students. The university uses data gathered through the survey to make continuous improvements. For example, specific departments may use results about their programs to change the number and length of assignments, the number of tests and quizzes and encourage more relevant projects and student experiences.

Colorado State learns about improving the environment for students by forming focus groups of students who participate in surveys and who are interviewed about their experiences. One group consists of students who took the survey as freshmen, and another group consists of students who were seniors when they took the survey but are still enrolled at Colorado State.

"The university would like a large number of students to participate in the survey in order to obtain the most meaningful results," said Pat Burns, vice president for information technology at the university.

The results of the survey are shared with the university by the national group.

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