Faculty Survey of Student Engagement at Cal Poly (2025)

What is FSSE?

FSSE ("Fessie") stands for Faculty Survey of Student Engagement.  FSSE measures instructors' perceptions and expectations regarding student learning and development.  It also surveys the importance instructional staff place on various areas of learning and development, the nature and frequency of instructor-student interactions, and participation by instructors in activities that impact student learning and personal development. 

Why participate in FSSE?

FSSE results, which complement results from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), allow an institution to identify areas of strength and possible areas of improvement.  It can answer these questions:

• In which high-impact learning experiences do our faculty participate?
• How important do faculty feel these high-impact practices are?
• What are faculty expectations about student learning in and out of the classroom?  How do these match with students' own expectations?
• How well do other faculty perceptions about student life and learning align with students' own accounts?

Goals and impact of FSSE

Academic Programs and Planning (APP) will:

• Share university- and college-level data with colleges to identify impactful instruction practices and areas for improvement in student learning experiences.
• Share data with campus stakeholders to identify and address areas where faculty can learn more about undergraduate students’ educational experiences at Cal Poly.
• Share data with partners such as alumni, advisory boards, and donors to develop new student learning opportunities (e.g., internships).
• Track trends in these faculty survey results over several cycles of FSSE.