Student survey results examined
The results of a 2001 survey of college freshmen were examined yesterday during a luncheon put on by the Center for Teaching Excellence.

Catherine Wehlburg presented the material that was collected about TCU students to help teachers understand what students are doing and thinking in relation to school activities, Wehlburg said.

“You see what’s good and what’s not so good,” said Peggy Watson, a Spanish professor. “That’s the beauty of it.”

More than 100,000 students participated in the surveys at 470 different universities, Wehlburg said. Four-hundred and sixty TCU students, nearly half of the freshman class, took part in the National Survey of Student Engagement’s (NSSE) survey in 2001, she said.

Wehlburg said the survey had five aims: To examine active and collaborative student participation, the level of challenge for the students, student and faculty interactions, to enrich the education experience and to determine how supportive the campus is towards students.

It is a good, but not perfect, measure for what students are getting from their classes, and it is something to work off of for the current faculty, Wehlburg said.

When the NSSE does its next survey, TCU hopes to have the faculty participate as well as the students, Wehlburg said.

— John Ashley Menzies