Improving Student Engagement - Briefing Paper
Introduction
Whether we like it or not, current students are
different from those of 20 years ago, and we can
not assume that our classes will be populated
with clear-minded, highly motivated individuals
who have no other priority than studying what
we want to teach them. Students are different,
and so is the complex, demanding HE
environment.
To help ourselves and our
students, learning processes that might
previously have been taken for granted need to
become explicit. This booklet provides some
ideas on how this can be done.
What is student engagement?
Engagement refers to how involved students are
in the material they study and in the learning
process itself. The premise is that engaged
students understand what is expected of them
and know how to act on those expectations.
Chickering and Gamson (1987) emphasise
seven principles based on research on good
teaching and learning in colleges and
universities.
Good practice in undergraduate education:
1. encourages contact between students and
staff,
2. develops reciprocity and cooperation among
students,
3. encourages active learning,
4. gives prompt feedback,
5. emphasizes time on task,
6. communicates high expectations, and
7. respects diverse talents and ways of
learning.
Here is what the ‘Seven Principles of Good
Practice’ mean:
1. Encourages Contact Between Students
and Staff
Frequent student-staff contact in and out of
classes is the most important factor in
student motivation and involvement. Staff
concern helps students get through rough
times and keep on working. Knowing a few
staff members well enhances students'
intellectual commitment and encourages
them to think about their own values and
future plans.
2. Develops Reciprocity and Cooperation
Among Students
Learning is enhanced when it is more like a
team effort than a solo race. Good learning,
like good work, is collaborative and social,
not competitive and isolated. Working with
others often increases involvement in
learning. Sharing one's own ideas and
responding to others' reactions sharpens
thinking and deepens understanding.
3. Encourages Active Learning
Learning is not a spectator sport. Students
do not learn much just by sitting in classes
listening to teachers, memorizing prepackaged assignments, and spitting out
answers. They must talk about what they are
learning, write about it, relate it to past
experiences and apply it to their daily lives.
The curriculum must be rendered engaging
and relevant. They must make what they
learn part of themselves.
4. Gives Prompt Feedback
Knowing what you know and don't know
focuses learning. Students need appropriate
feedback on performance to benefit from
courses. This feedback needs to be couched
in terms that are meaningful to the student.
When getting started, students need help in
assessing
existing
knowledge
and
competence. In classes, students need
frequent opportunities to perform and
receive suggestions for improvement. At
various points students need chances to
reflect on what they have learned, what they
still need to know, and how to assess
themselves.
5. Emphasizes Time on Task
Time plus energy equals learning. There is
no substitute for time on task. Learning to
use one's time well is critical for students
and professionals alike. Students need help
in learning effective time management.
Defining time expectations and allocating
realistic amounts of time means effective
learning for students and effective teaching
for staff.
6. Communicates High Expectations
Expect more and you will get more. High
expectations are important for everyone - for
the poorly prepared, for those unwilling to
exert themselves, and for the bright and well
motivated. Expecting students to perform
well becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when
teachers and institutions hold high
expectations for themselves and make extra
efforts.
1
7. Respects Diverse Talents and Ways of
Learning
There are many roads to learning. People
bring different talents and styles of learning
to college. Brilliant students in seminars may
be all thumbs in the lab or studio. Students
rich in hands-on experience may not do so
well with theory. Students need the
opportunity to show their talents and learn in
ways that work for them. Then they can be
pushed to learn in new ways that do not
come so easily.
Some Suggestions for Improving Student
Engagement1
Academic Challenge
 expectations for student performance clearly
and consistently articulated and set at
appropriately high levels; as these levels are
met, new challenges need to be introduced
to move the student on further
 student time on task consistent with staff
expectations and course demands
 emphasis in classes on higher-order
cognitive and intellectual activities
 challenging examinations and assignments
 students “stretched” to meet academic
standards and expectations
 academic challenges for students balanced
by appropriate support
Active Learning and Collaborative Learning
 active learning expected and practiced
throughout the curriculum
 students taught how to participate actively
and collaboratively in class
 electronic technologies foster active learning
 group study and other forms of collaboration
encouraged by physical and curriculum
structures and facilitated by effective access,
electronically or face to face
 students provide feedback to their peers
Student-Staff Interaction
 staff
physically
and
psychologically
accessible to students
 staff meet with students outside of class
 staff
collaborate
on
research
with
undergraduates
 students receive extensive and timely
feedback from staff


Students are recognised by staff as
individuals with a variety of abilities and
limitations
a variety of means of communication is
readily available: face to face and on-line
Enriching Educational Experiences
 diversity experiences are infused in the
curriculum and co-curriculum
 students required to participate in courses
and/or activities that promote civic
engagement
 students take advantage of work-related
learning opportunities (eg Study abroad,
Placements, Site visits, Simulations)
 extracurricular experiences enrich student
learning
 students have opportunities to develop
leadership skills
Case Study Example 1 - Increasing Student
Engagement
in
Large
Classes:
a
2
Departmental Case Study.
Over the last several years, the University of
Colorado at Boulder's Physics Department has
worked hard to improve student learning in the
large-lecture introductory physics courses (600
students). Our main focus has been on
increasing interactive engagement in lectures
and on promoting collaborative learning. In
addition, some courses have incorporated a
variety of other practices based on Physics
Education Research (PER) findings. These
include: emphasizing conceptual understanding,
explicitly
teaching
metacognitive
skills,
incorporating conceptual and context-rich (realworld) problems in homework, using computer
simulations, developing well-defined course
goals, and measuring learning gains and
student attitudes with validated assessment
instruments.
In 1997, several staff members began promoting
the use of interactive methods in the classroom.
They cited the improved learning gains reported
by others using Eric Mazur's Peer Instruction
method and began using such techniques. Each
year since then additional staff members have
adopted this style of lecture. Students vote on
answers to questions during the lecture, that 1)
quiz
on
the
reading,
2)
elicit/reveal
misconceptions,
3)
test
conceptual
understanding, 4) require prediction of
experimental outcomes or simulation response,
5) recall a lecture point, 6) require reasoning to
apply concepts in different contexts, 7) relate
1
Adapted from Kuh, G D Taking Stock of What Matters to Student
Success:
http://www.auqa.edu.au/auqf/2006/student/kuh_taking_stock_of_w
hat_matters.pdf
2
Adapted from Pollock and Perkins (2004)
2
different representations, 8) do a calculation, 9)
draw on intuition from everyday life, and 10)
survey students. The mix and types of questions
used varies with course and instructor, but peer
discussion related to the questions ensues.
In some courses, this simply means that
students discuss their ideas with neighbours. In
other courses, groups of 3-4 students are
formed and are required to come to a
consensus before voting. Some instructors
follow up questions with teacher-led, full-class
discussions. In addition, some staff use
interactive lecture demonstrations which require
each student to graph or otherwise predict the
measured outcomes of an experiment.
This increased emphasis on collaborative
learning exists outside the lecture hall as well. In
2000, the department created a public Physics
Help Room for all introductory classes. Open 9
am to 5 pm and staffed by instructors and TAs,
the "Help Room" is extremely popular. Typically
thirty to ninety students are present in the room.
Often they are working together in small groups.
In addition, most of our introductory courses
make use of CAPA, a computerized homework
system which personalizes problems. This
further encouraging a culture of student
collaboration since students can work together
on problems without feeling like someone is
copying the work of another. In fall 2003,
traditional recitations in the calculus-based
mechanics course were replaced with tutorials
run by TAs and undergraduate learning
assistants.
Incorporating these new teaching methods has
not had any adverse effects on course or
instructor ratings. In fact, on average our
interactive engagement-based courses rate
higher than the traditional lecture-based courses
on student evaluations.
The department now holds bi-weekly brown bag
lunch meetings where interested staff members
can discuss education issues. Local physics
education researchers are often invited to
speak. Typical attendance at the "brown bag"
meetings is up to 30% of the staff. This is an
informal but powerful forum for sharing interest
and ideas, spreading pedagogical theories and
practical
approaches,
and
encouraging
reflection on individual and departmental
practices. The department also began inviting
high-profile colloquia speakers. These colloquia
had a noticeable impact and were well attended
by the staff. Providing forums for dissemination
of ideas - hallway discussions, colloquia, and
lunch meetings - has certainly contributed to the
spread of interest in and awareness of new
teaching methods. For more information on our
group, please visit our web page at
www.colorado.edu/physics/EducationIssues. We
welcome feedback on efforts at other institutions
to implement sustainable and effective change.
Case Study 2 – The Struggling Fourth Year
A final year student’s work and attendance are
poor and she’s constantly tired, and it is
discovered that she has no money or parental
support and is working long hours at Tesco.
Once the problem is identified, the mentor
passes the student to Student Welfare Services,
where she discovers that 4th year students are
prioritised for the (non-repayable) Student
Hardship Fund Grant.
Once she stopped
working at Tesco (given the £1000 grant) her
work rapidly improved.
Case Study 3 – Notional Study Hours
Students often don’t understand that studying on
a particular module involves more than turning
up for classes. So remind them regularly about
notional study hours. Eg a 15 credit module
entails 150 hours of study. This could be broken
up as 12.5 hpw:





2 hpw lecture
2 hpw tutorial/ lab
1 hpw VISION activities
3 hpw assessment activities (formative/
summative/ revision for exams)
4.5 hpw independent study (including prep
for classes)
Discuss with students what they’re meant to be
doing in their independent study time.
Links
Chickering A W and Gamson Z F, (1987) Seven
Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate
Educaiton:
http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/F
acDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/7princip.htm
Pollock, S and Perkins, K (2004) Increasing
student engagement in large classes: A
departmental case study. Forum on Education
of the American Physical Society. At Physics
Education Research @ Colorado:
http://www.colorado.edu/physics/EducationIssue
s/research/papers_talks.htm
(Last accessed 12 Feb 2007)
3
What to do now?
1. Using the Planning Tool, work out what
currently goes on in your course in trying to
engage students in their learning.
2. Decide which other approaches and
methods would work in your subject area.
3. Plan how they will map across the course,
developing engagement activities at each
level.
4. Make sure that the approach is explicit and
understood by students and colleagues: they
are more likely to engage with tasks if they
can see the point of them.
4