Searching for Signs of Student Engagement

Here is an interesting interactive map from USA Today that measured student scores on 5 benchmarks:

1. Level of Academic Challenge
2. Active and Collaborative Learning
3. Student-Faculty Interaction
4. Enriching Educational Experiences
5. Supportive Campus Environment

There were two things that particularly stood out. First was the definition of "Active and Collaborative Learning". The "active" part involved asking questions, contributing to class discussions, and making presentations. How discouraging it is to see this as the "benchmark level" of active learning?!?!

Perhaps more concerning is that the average score on this benchmark was a little under 50%. This tells me that universities aren't even doing a good job at this basic level of active and collaborative learning.