Student Understanding, Participation and Engagement: A Small Scale Quantitative Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14297/jpaap.v3i2.138Keywords:
student engagement, participation, understanding, lectures, activeAbstract
Within the current Higher Education focus on the student experience, this study explores the possible relationship between the three issues of participation, engagement and understanding. The study emerged from a conversation between colleagues about student evaluation of taught sessions. From this, a diagram outlining sectors of participation, engagement and understanding was constructed and a minute paper style instrument developed for easy implementation in large classes. The evaluation instrument was utilised with one class over a period of eight weeks involving four lectures, each utilising think/pair/share exercises to a different degree. The results show different levels of self-reported participation, engagement and understanding related to the frequency and occurrence of the think/pair/share exercises.
References
Andresen, L. (1984). Lecturing as an obsolete form of teaching: A new look at an old debate. HERDSA News, 6(2) 3–5.
Angelo, T. A., & Cross, P. K. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques: A handbook for college teachers (2nd ed). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Barnett, R. (2000). Realizing the university in an age of supercomplexity. Maidenhead, UK: OUP.
Becker, W. E. (2000). Teaching economics in the twenty-first century. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 14, 109–119.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/jep.14.1.109
Biggs, J., & Tang, C. (2007). Teaching for quality learning at university (3rd ed.). Maidenhead, UK: OUP.
Buckley, G. L., Bain, N. R., April, M., Luginbuhl, A. M., & Dyer, M. L. (2004). Adding an “Active Learning” Component to a Large Lecture Course. Journal of Geography, 103(6), 231–237.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00221340408978607
Butler, A., Phillmann, K. B., & Smart, L. (2001). Active learning within a lecture: Assessing the impact of short, in-class writing exercises. Teaching of Psychology, 28(4), 257–259.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/S15328023TOP2804_04
Cavanagh, M. (2011). Students’ experiences of active engagement though cooperative learning activities in lectures. Active Learning in Higher Education, 12(1), 23–33.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1469787410387724
Cohen, S. M. (2005). Active learning in lectures introducing magnetic induction. American Journal of Physics, 73, 282–284.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.1811621
Costello, M. L., Weldon, A., & Brunner, P. (2002). Reaction cards as a formative evaluations tool: Students’ perceptions of how their use impacted on classes. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 27, 23–33.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02602930120105036
Elliot, D. (2005). Early mornings and apprehension: Active learning in lectures. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism, 4(1), 53–59.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.3794/johlste.41.86
Forgie, S. (2007). The enteric jazz band lecture: Enhancing active learning. Medical Education, 41, 509.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2929.2007.02733.x
Gauci, S. A., Dantas, A. M., Williams, D. A., & Kemm, R. E. (2009). Promoting student-centered active learning in lectures with a personal response system. Advances in Physiology Education, 33, 60–71.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/advan.00109.2007
Gier, V. S., & Kreiner, D. S. (2009). Incorporating active learning with PowerPoint-based lectures using content-based questions. Teaching of Psychology, 36(2), 134–139.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00986280902739792
Hativa, N., & Birenbaum, M. (2000). ‘Who prefers what? Disciplinary differences in students’ preferred approaches to teaching and learning styles’. Research in Higher Education, 41(2), 209–236.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1007095205308
Huxham, M. (2005). Learning lecturers: Do ‘interactive windows’ help? Active learning in Higher Education, 6(1), 17–31.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1469787405049943
Killeen, T. L. (2001). Mentoring interdisciplinary undergraduate course. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 85, 95–108.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/tl.10
Kwan, F. (2011). Formative assessment. The one-minute paper vs. the daily quiz. Journal of Instructional Pedagogies, 5, 31–39.
Lyman, F. (1987). Think-pair-share: An expanding teaching technique. MAA-CIE Cooperative News, 1(1) 1–2.
McConnell, D. A., Steer, D. N., & Owens, K. D. (2003). Assessment and active learning strategies for introductory geology courses. Journal of Geoscience Education, 51, 205–216.
Nickels, K. (2000). Dos and don’ts of introducing active learning techniques. Paper presented at the ASEE Annual Conference.
Omelicheva, M. Y., & Avdeyeva, O. (2008). Teaching with lecture or debate? Testing the effectiveness of traditional versus active learning methods of instruction. PS: Political Science and Politics, 41(3), 603–607.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1049096508080815
Orr, J. C. (2005). Instant assessment: Using one-minute papers in lower-level classes. Pedagogy, 5, 108–111.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/15314200-5-1-108
Prince M. (2004). Does active learning work? A review of the research. Journal of Engineering Education, 93, 223–231.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/j.2168-9830.2004.tb00809.x
Ramsden, P. (2003). Learning to teach in higher education (2nd ed.). London, UK: RoutledgeFalmer.
Razmov, V., & Anderson, R. (2006). Pedagogical techniques support by the use of devices in teaching software engineering. ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, 38, 1–6.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1124706.1121449
Revell, A., & Wainwright, E. (2009). What makes lectures ― ‘unmissable’? Insights into teaching excellence and active teaching. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 33(2), 209–223.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03098260802276771
Short, F., & Martin, J. (2011). Presentation vs. performance: Effects of lecturing style in higher education on student preference and student learning. Psychology teaching review, 17(2), 71–82.
Smith, C. V., & Cardaciotto, L. (2011). Is active learning like broccoli? Student perceptions of active learning in large lecture classes. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 11(1), 53–61.
Stead, D. R. (2005). A review of the one-minute paper. Active Learning in Higher Education, 6, 118–131.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1469787405054237
Walker, J. D., Cotner, S. H., Baepler, P. M., & Decker, M. D. (2008). A delicate balance: Integrating active learning into a large lecture course. CBE – Life Sciences Education, 7, 361–367.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.08-02-0004
Zorn, J., & Kumler, M. (2003). Incorporating active learning into large lecture classes. The California Geographer, 43, 50–54.
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice has made best effort to ensure accuracy of the contents of this journal, however makes no claims to the authenticity and completeness of the articles published. Authors are responsible for ensuring copyright clearance for any images, tables etc which are supplied from an outside source.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
