Information Literacy and Student Engagement: What the National Survey of Student Engagement Reveals about Your Campus

Abstract

The annual National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) measures undergraduate “participation in programs and activities that institutions provide for their learning and personal development." Each item on the survey correlates to one of five benchmarks of “empirically confirmed ‘good practices’ in undergraduate education.” The NSSE is an excellent diagnostic fit with the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education because learning outcomes can be correlated with student engagement. This article will present case studies from the University of Mississippi and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis to demonstrate how librarians can apply NSSE results for the purpose of assessment.