Freshmen and seniors asked to participate in national survey of student engagement

Rider University will be participating this spring in the National Survey of Student Engagement, a respected national survey of freshmen and seniors to evaluate student engagement. The results of the survey will provide data on how undergraduates spend their time and what they gain from attending college.

As an incentive to participate, all students who complete the online survey will be entered to win one of two iPad minis (valued at $200 each) or one of 100 $5 Starbucks gift cards. The chances of winning are one in six. 

Students received the first email from Provost DonnaJean Fredeen on Feb. 23, which included a link to the survey. Subsequent reminder emails will be sent over the next several weeks, but the deadline to participate is April 1. 

Rider is one of more than 600 colleges and universities participating in the National Study of Student Engagement (NSSE), now in its 15th year. Last year, over 371,000 students across the country completed the survey, which can be taken online at the student’s leisure. The survey closes in early April.

“Student engagement reflects two critical features of collegiate quality," says Ron Walker, associate vice president of Academic Affairs. "The first is the amount of time and effort students put into their studies and other educationally purposeful activities. The second is how the institution allocates its resources to deliver the curricula as well as support campus interactions linked to student learning and personal development. Teaching, learning, and student development are at the heart of this survey.”

NSSE annually collects information about student participation in programs and activities that institutions provide for their learning and personal development. Rider will receive a report that compares our students’ responses with those of students at comparable institutions throughout the nation.

“That is why it is so important that our freshmen and seniors complete the survey,” Walker says. “We want to know how our students spend their time at Rider and what they gain from that experience.” The survey also encourages reflection by students on what has gone into their educational experience here at Rider, providing hard data of what makes up ‘the Rider experience.’”

For more information, please contact Eileen Gurwitz in the office of Institutional Analysis at [email protected] or 609-896-5000, ext. 7163.