Central Michigan University freshmen and seniors are invited to participate in the National Survey of Student Engagement.

NSSE, founded by Indiana University, collects information about student participation, learning and personal development to provide an estimate of how undergraduates spend their time and what they gain from attending college.

On Feb. 1, Provost Gary Shapiro emailed students asking them to complete the survey, which covers five National Benchmarks of Effective Educational Practice; level of academic challenge, active and collaborative learning, student-faculty interactions, enriching educational experiences and supportive campus environment.

Each benchmark measures student engagement and its importance to student learning, collegiate quality and institutional improvement.

OIR Senior Research Associate Ahmed Elgammal is working to raise awareness of the survey and its significance around campus.

“More than 640 institutions nationwide are participating in the survey,” Elgammal said. “Some Canadian institutions and American universities overseas are taking part too.”

He has helped spread advertising around campus, spoke to resident assistants and will continue to remind students of the survey through email.

So far, about 1,000 CMU students have taken the survey, Elgammal said. But CMU wants to see more students respond.

“It’s very important to get students’ feedback and engagement,” Elgammal said. “It helps increase the student-learning experience.”

Students who complete the survey by March 21 will be entered into a drawing for more than 100 prize,s including items such as an iPad 2 or a CMU Bookstore gift card.

In 2009, about 1.1 million students from 640 institutions in the U.S. and Canada were invited to participate in the survey. Of that number, 367,318 students responded. This year NSSE hopes more students get involved.

The survey closes in May.

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CMU encourages students to participate in survey on engagement, learning