Student Engagement: Promoting Better Learning

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Student EngagementPromoting Better Learning
Rick Vaz Associate Dean Interdisciplinary and
Global Studies Worcester Polytechnic
Institute Worcester, Massachusetts,
USA Polytechnic of Namibia, 3 May 2006
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What Really Matters in College?

• The research is clear students who are actively
  involved in both academic and out-of-class
  activities gain more from the college experience
  than those who are not so involved.

Ernest T. Pascarella Patrick T. Terenzini How
College Affects Students
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Finding Evidence of Educational Quality

• Deep student learning is difficult and expensive
  to measure directly
• Extensive research has linked certain behaviors
  and activities to learning
• These behaviors and activities are easier to
  measure

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Student Engagement

• Educational involvement that leads students
  toward significant learning outcomes
• Engaged students are good learners and effective
  teaching stimulates and sustains student
  engagement. Handelsman et al.
• An indicator of educational effectiveness

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Indicators of Engagement

• Time on task
• High expectations
• Student-faculty contact
• Writing and revision
• Prompt feedback
• Cooperation among students
• Respect for diverse talents and ways of learning

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National Survey ofStudent Engagement

• Started in 1999 with 12 institutions grown to
  over 500 in NSSE 2005
• Over a half million students (first-year students
  and seniors) at 850 colleges and universities
  (2000-2005)
• Focus on undergraduate quality and institutional
  improvement
• Research-based and extensively tested to ensure
  validity and reliability
• Assesses the extent to which students are engaged
  in educational practices related to high levels
  of learning and development

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NSSE Benchmarks for Educational Practice

• Level of academic challenge
• Active and collaborative learning
• Student interactions with faculty members
• Enriching educational experiences
• Supportive campus environment

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Student Engagement Quiz

• What percentage of US college students study
  two hours or more for every hour in class?
• (a) 12 (b) 20 (c) 31 (d) 39 (e) 49

(a) 12
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Time on Task
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How Students Spend Their Time
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Variations in Student-Faculty Interaction by
Discipline
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Student-Faculty Gap Analysis
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What WPI Learned from NSSE

• 4th year students highly engaged
• Project work and research
• Interactions with faculty
• Collaboration with peers
• 1st year students unengaged
• Not working very hard
• Not much writing
• Not much thinking

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Pedagogies of Engagement Association of American
Colleges and Universities

• Collaborative inquiry
• Service learning
• Experiential learning
• Integrative learning
• Project-based learning

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Enhancing WPIs First Year Strategies

• Interdisciplinary
  seminars
• Societal awareness
• Peer learning
• Faculty development
• Connect academic and social life
• More project work in courses

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What Constitutes Project Work?

• Open-ended problems
• Many possible solutions
• Goal, methods chosen by learners
• Complexity, ambiguity
• Real and messy

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Key Learning Outcomes of Projects

• Communication and teamwork
• Research, analysis, synthesis

• Problem solving
• Critical thinking
• Real world skills

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Where Do Project Ideas Come From?

• Facultychoose project(s) based on experience,
  challenge, support
• Studentsdesign a project within some parameters
• External sponsorscommunity organizations, local
  govt and schools, corporations, nonprofits, NGOs

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Case Study Introduction to Design

• Sophomore level course ( 7 weeks)
• Preparation for senior design projects
• Solving open-ended technical problems
• Research, experimentation, simulation, synthesis
• Human factors ergonomics, ethics, economics

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Example Project Solar Lighting
You are to design a solar-powered lighting
application. Your design must be suitable for
use in the developing world. Your completed
prototype design must cost US50 or less.

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Faculty and Student Roles (30 Students)

• Students are in teams of design engineers
• 10 teams of 3 students on each
• Graduate assistant or undergraduate tutor acts as
  senior engineer
• Primary source of technical guidance
• Coaches students in teamwork
• Faculty act as engineering managers
• Consult, critique

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Structured Activity

• 4 classes per week process of design
• Market analysis, user requirements
• Brainstorming, teamwork
• Project management, documentation
• Standards, safety, ethics, quality
• 3-hour design review each week
• Presentation of interim results
• Feedback and critique
• Mandatory team meetings with senior engineers
• Summary report to faculty

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Assignments and Grading

• Six weekly reports 30
• Revised for final report
• Final design
• Final report 15
• Presentation 10
• Functionality 15
• Three exams 30
• Mostly to make sure they come to class

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A Different Type of Dialogue

• Old scenario
• Student Prof, how do I solve this problem?
• Prof Here, watch me do it
• New scenario
• Student Prof, how do I solve this problem?
• Prof I dont know. What have you tried?
• S I think X or Y might work, but Im not
  sure
• P How could you test your ideas?
• P What are the most important criteria?
• P What do your partners think?

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Student Course Evaluations

• Overall, how much did you learn from this
  course?
• Almost nothing 1
• A little 10
• Quite a lot 57
• More than any course Ive taken 32

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Impressions from the Faculty

• Worth the effort
• Basic knowledge applied and reinforced
• The design process learned and applied
• A wake-up call for students
• Engagement, commitment
• Teamwork, responsibility, pride
• Suggests future work
• Improve previous courses
• Develop a remediation strategy

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Our Students Are Not Like Us

• Most faculty learn by reading and writing
• Most students learn by doing
• Universities reward academic abilities
• The real world rewards practical abilities

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How the National Survey of Student Engagement
is Used to Stimulate Effective Educational
Practices

Part of this presentation was based on

• John Hayek
• National Survey of Student Engagement
• Jillian Kinzie
• NSSE Institute for Effective Educational Practice
• AACU Pedagogies of Engagement Conference
• April 2004

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Questions for Discussion

• Are projects feasible for large courses?
• Are projects appropriate at all levels?
• Must projects be real?
• Is group work essential?