Australasian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE)
AUSSE survey instruments
There are two AUSSE survey instruments, the Student Engagement Questionnaire (SEQ) which is administered to students, and the Staff Student Engagement Questionnaire (SSEQ) which is used to survey staff.
The SEQ is based on the USA National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) College Student Report and the SSEQ builds directly on the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE) . Links between the AUSSE and the NSSE and FSSE provide a basis for international benchmarking.
Both AUSSE survey instruments are designed for administration in less than 15 mintues, the SEQ is designed for both online and paper administration, while the SSEQ is designed for online administration only. Both instruments have been validated for use in Australasian higher education through a series of focus groups, consultations, cognitive interviews, pilot testing, expert reviews and psychometric analyses. This validation process builds on the extensive validation conducted by the NSSE.
Both the SEQ and SSEQ contain items that tap a range of key educational phenomena. These items group together the measure six summary scales, which are outlined in the table below:
Scale |
Description |
Academic |
The extent to which expectations and assessments challenge students to learn |
Active |
Students’ efforts to actively construct knowledge |
Student and |
The level and nature of students’ contact and interaction with teaching staff |
Enriching Educational |
Students’ participation in broadening educational activities |
Supportive Learning |
Students’ feelings of support within the university community |
Work Integrated |
Integration of employment-focused work experiences into study |
Student Engagement Questionnaire (SEQ)
The Student Engagement Questionnaire (SEQ) contains both items that measure the six summary scales described above and also provides measurement of six outcome measures. The measure of average grade is captured in a single item, while the other five are composite measures which reflect responses to several items. These outcome measures are described in the table below:
Outcome |
Description |
Higher-Order Thinking |
Participation in higher-order forms of thinking |
General Learning Outcomes |
Development of general competencies |
General Development Outcomes |
Development of general forms of individual and social development |
Average Overall Grade |
Average overall grade so far in course |
Departure Intention |
Non-graduating students' intentions on not returning to study in the following year |
Overall Satisfaction |
Students' overall satisfaction with their educational experience |
As well as collecting data on these six summary scales and six outcome measures, the SEQ also collects information on a range of individual demographics and educational contexts.
Click on the link to download a sample copy of the Student Engagement Questionnaire (SEQ) that was used in AUSSE 2008.
Staff Student Engagement Questionnaire (SSEQ)
The Staff Student Engagement Questionnaire is the survey instrument of the Staff Student Engagement Survey (SSES) which complements the Australasian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE). All institutions that participate in the AUSSE are invited to take part in the SSES. The structure and content of the SSEQ closely mirrors the Student Engagement Questionnaire (SEQ) and because of this results for most of the SSEQ items can be directly compared to those for the SEQ. The SSEQ measures academics’ expectations for student engagement in educational practices that have been linked empirically with high quality learning and development.
Participating staff are to respond to questions about student engagement based on a 'typical first-year' or 'typical later-year' student that they have taught during the last two academic years. Technically, while academic staff are the respondents, the typical student remains the unit of analysis.
The SSEQ contains items that tap a range of key educational phenomena, a selection of these items are grouped together to measure the six summary scales outlined above. The SSEQ also captures staff perceptions on five of the outcome measures: Higher-Order Thinking, General Learning Outcomes, General Development Outcomes, Departure Intentions and Overall Satisfaction.
The SSEQ was administered for the first time in 2008. Click on the link to download a sample of the Staff Student Engagement Questionnaire (SSEQ) that was used in 2008.