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During the presentation of the results, the rector of the Catholic University of Temuco, Aliro Bórquez, said that "we have been learning to have data of this nature to optimize our work and improve the quality of higher education."
The 90.1% of the first-year students and the 87.9% of the fourth-year students claim to review and learn “a lot” and “a lot” of the contents seen in class; while three out of four young people can apply what they have learned to new situations. Although they value the performance of teachers, there are many who have never spoken with a teacher outside of class hours.
More than 7 thousand students from five institutions that belong to the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (CRUCH) participated in 2018 in the National Survey for the Evaluation of Student Engagement (ENCE).
This initiative, which is sponsored by the Council of Rectors, began 2017 as a pilot in three universities, last year two were added and for the 2019 application five more will participate. In total there are 10 universities, although it is expected that other institutions of the Council of Rectors will join, in order to promote the exchange of information and good practices between them.
The results of ENCE 2018 were presented this Friday, within the framework of the International Seminar "Student Engagement and Promotion of University Education", organized by CRUCH and the educational institutions that participate in the project "Evaluation of Student Engagement and Use of Evidence for the Improvement of Higher Education ”.
The activity was inaugurated by the rector of the Catholic University of Temuco, Aliro Bórquez, who said that "we have been learning to have data of this nature to optimize our work and improve the quality of higher education." He added that ENCE allows "collaborative and synergistic work between CRUCH universities, by sharing data on the experiences of their students and on which practices work best to promote commitment and participation."
For his part, the academic vice-rector of the University of Valparaíso and one of those in charge of the initiative, José Miguel Salazar, highlighted that the instrument “allows us to better understand what is happening to our students, how they live the university, how they use their time, with whom and how they interact. This allows us to better understand what space they have to come to class and work with us; but also to see what things we can do to improve that experience ”.
The seminar was attended by prominent national academics, researchers from the Millennium Nucleus of Higher Education Student Experiences, NMEdSup and researchers from Indiana University, United States: Dr. Alexander McCormick, Director of National Survey of Student Engagement from the Center for Postsecondary Research, and Dr. Judith. A. Ouimet, Senior Assistant Vice Provost in Curricular Development and Assessment.
Main results of ENCE 2018
According to Salazar, ENCE shows that “we live in a reality of great diversity and the aggregated results give a guideline from which to look at it. But the results of each university, each generation of students and each type of career, speak of very different realities ”. The academic vice-rector of the U. de Valparaíso added that “this is an instrument for improvement, so that the institutions collect their own data, compare them and see what they can do to talk with their students, in terms of academic load, how they distribute the time and what other needs they have ”.
La encuesta fue aplicada a 7.383 estudiantes de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, la Universidad de Chile, la Universidad de Valparaíso, la Universidad de Playa Ancha y la Universidad Católica de Temuco. La muestra incluyó a alumnos y alumnas de la cohorte 2018 (primer año) y de la cohorte 2015 (cuarto año), que cursan carreras profesionales y/o de licenciatura en las áreas de Administración y Comercio; Agropecuaria; Arte y Arquitectura; Ciencias; Ciencias Sociales; Derecho; Educación; Estudios Generales; Humanidades; Salud; y Tecnología.
The questionnaire had 90 items (questions) and considered 9 evaluation dimensions, which respond to four macro areas that cover aspects associated with the student experience and learning, such as: Academic challenge, Learning with peers, Experience with teachers, and University environment .
Entre los datos positivos, quienes participaron en la encuesta revisan contenidos y aplican teorías: el 51.3% de los estudiantes de primer año (cohorte 2018) señaló revisar o aprender “bastante” de los contenidos vistos en clases y el 38.8% optó por la alternativa “mucho”. En el caso de los alumnos y alumnas de cuarto año (cohorte 2015), los resultados fueron similares, con el 51.2% y el 36.7%, respectivamente. En tanto, el 75,2% de los y las estudiantes de primer año afirman que aplican “bastante” o “mucho” hechos, teorías o métodos estudiados en clases a problemas prácticos y situaciones nuevas; este porcentaje alcanza el 76,6% en el caso de quienes cursan cuarto año.
On the other hand, it was evidenced that in both courses, students have more difficulties in evaluating different points of view - only the 24.7% of the first year and the 25.7% of the fourth year say they do it very frequently - and formulate new ideas, from different sources, where only the 24% of the 2018 cohort and the 23% of the 2015 cohort admit to doing it very frequently.
Another of ENCE's conclusions is that many students go to classes without having finished reading and homework: the fourth-year 53% states that they face this situation frequently or very frequently, while this percentage reaches 47.2% in the first-year group. anus. Participation in classes is lower than expected: 41.8% of students who entered in 2015 and 48.8% of 2018 never or almost never ask in classes. However, the 70.9% (first year) and the 63.6% (fourth year) review notes after school; while 67.5% (first year) and 64.7% (fourth year) summarize the contents seen in classes. Academics are well evaluated by both the first and fourth year groups: 89% of those who entered 2018 and 84% of those who entered 2015 ensure that their teachers frequently or very frequently teach organized classes.
Both cohorts also consider that academics frequently or very frequently use examples or illustrations to explain difficult topics (85.8% and 84.1%, respectively). However, the majority of respondents say that they never talk to teachers about their future academic plans (59% for the first year and 43.4% for the fourth). In addition, the 48.5% (2018 cohort) and the 36.4% (2015 cohort) state that they have never spoken with a teacher outside of class hours.
This year 2019, the ENCE survey will be applied during the second semester in 10 CRUCH universities, since the University of Aysén, the Catholic University of Santísima Concepción, the University of Talca, the Metropolitan Technological University and the University joined the initiative. of the Border.
