E I o n
Q r in I II g
o Hi mi u n
E LO
-EDU
D y L y M
VDLIIME XXVI
11/30/00
Elon again ranked as a top
school in National Survey
Audrey Seagraves colleges and universities were col-
The Pendulum
The 2000 National Survey of
Student Engagement (NSSE) reports
Elon as one of the nation’s four most
effective institutions in engaging stu
dents educationally.
Money Magazine, the Princeton
Review, Time, Newsweek, Kiplinger,
Mother Jones and Yahoo! (the nation ’ s
“most wired” institutions) have joined
the company of U.S. News and World
Report in the process of ranking the
“best of the best” in colleges and uni
versities across the nation.
They examine such factors as
retention rates, faculty-student ratios
and graduation rates to determine who
belongs on their lists of sought after
schools.
In contrast, the new National
Survey of Student Engagement col
lects information directly from under
graduate students about the quality of
their education, revealing whether in
stitutions are using their resources to
provide meaningful learning experi
ences, and how they are using them.
George Kuh, Indiana University
higher education professor, developed
the $3.3 million project. The survey is
sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation
for the Advancement of Teaching and
the Pew Forum for Undergraduate
Learning.
Surveys from more than 63,000
freshmen and seniors at 276 four-year
lected.
The results of the student survey
provided the first set of comparative
standards for determining how effec
tively colleges are contributing to
learning.
They grouped the students’ an
swers into five benchmarks that Kuh
said are generally regarded as key in
dicators of quality undergraduate edu
cational experiences: level of academic
challenge; active and collaborative
learning student interactions with fac
ulty; enriching educational experiences.
outside the classroom; and supportive
campus environment.
“Students and parents should be
asking colleges the kinds of questions
NSSE asks,” Russell Edgerton, direc
tor of the Pew Forum on Undergradu
ate Learning, a survey sponsor, said in
a news release. “How much do stu
dents study and how rigorous are their
assignments? How much writing is
expected? How often do students in
teract with their teachers in meaning
ful ways?”
Elon scored in the top 20 per
cent on each of five benchmarks of
quality measured by the survey.
Nine out of 10 students surveyed
said their Elon education is excellent
or good. Participation in Elon study
abroad programs was three times the
national average.
See “SURVEY,” page 5
Jennifer McCort/ The Pendulum
While most quilts cover people, the one found hanging
this week in Moseley Center covers an issue that all of
Elon and its community will soon know much about. This
portion of the AIDS Quilt is only a preview of what is to
come this spring, when the floor ofKoury Center will be
covered in patches that tell the stories of AIDS victims
from all over the world.
— Inside ^==
Christmas at
Elon
page 21
Early snow
fall at Elon
page 2
Elon Basket
ball in full
swing
page 24