Typical-student Option
The typical-student option asks faculty members to respond to questions about student engagement based on the typical first-year student or senior they have taught during the current academic year. This option is valuable for institutions that desire to have faculty estimate first-year or senior levels of engagement from across all their courses, rather than one particular course. For example, if a faculty member in the School of Education teaches a capstone course and introductory seminar, they are asked to respond to the survey based on both courses. They are, then, asked to identify the majority of students (first-year students or seniors) taught across all of their courses. (Please note, the survey doesn’t ask the faculty member to identify courses taught, only to respond with the courses in mind).
If the faculty member identifies that he/she teaches mostly first-year students, many of the following questions ask that faculty member to reflect on his/her perceptions and experiences with a typical first-year student in mind.
Asking faculty to respond based on a typical first-year or senior students leads to more comparable items on the FSSE-NSSE report. To view how FSSE data from the typical-student option are reported, please visit the NSSE Institutional Report.