Student Engagement and Interactive Learning Technologies: Whats the Connection

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Student Engagement and Interactive Learning
Technologies Whats the Connection?
Dr. Norm Vaughan, Jim Zimmer, Fiona
Villamar Faculty of Teaching Learning

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Presentation

• Study overview
• Methodology
• Findings
• Discussion
• Next steps

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Study Overview
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Guiding Questions

• How are instructors designing course assessment
  activities to incorporate student use of
  interactive learning technologies?
• How do students and instructors perceive the
  value of these tools?
• Is there a correlation between the use of
  interactive learning technologies, the level of
  perceived student engagement in these courses,
  student success and withdrawal/failure rates?

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Student Engagement

• What does this term or concept mean to you?

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The 3 Rs of Engagement

• Relevance
• Rigour
• Relationships

Dennis Littky http//bigpicture.org/
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Optimal Flow

• . . . the mental state of
• operation in which the person
• is fully immersed in what he
• or she is doing by a feeling
• of energized focus, full
• involvement, and success
• in the process of the activity.

Mihály Csíkszentmihályi
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National Survey of Student Engagement

• Student engagement
• Amount of time and effort that students put into
  their classroom studies that lead to experiences
  and outcomes that constitute student success
• Ways the institution allocates resources and
  organizes learning opportunities and services to
  induce students to participate in and benefit
  from such activities

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National Survey of Student Engagement

• Five clusters of effective educational practice
  (benchmarks)
• Active and collaborative learning
• Student interactions with faculty members
• Level of academic challenge
• Enriching educational experiences
• Supportive campus environment

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Methodology
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First Year Undergraduate Courses

• BIOL1202 Introduction to Cell Biology
• COMM1610 Tools for Information Designers
• CYCC1110 Fundamental Skills in Interviewing
• ECON1101 Principles of Microeconomics
• GNED1102 Controversies in Science
• MGMT2262 Business Statistics I
• MGMT2275 Creativity in the Workplace

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Data Collection Fall 2008

• Online surveys
• Questions derived from CLASSE (the classroom
  version of the National Survey of Student
  Engagement) and the EDUCAUSE Applied Research
  Study of Undergraduate Students and Information
  Technology
• Flashlight Online Survey Tool (Teaching, Learning
  and Technology Group)
• Administered to both students and faculty in the
  7 undergraduate courses during the 10th week of
  the semester
• Student focus group lunches
• Conducted during the 12th week of the semester
• Blackboard usage, final course grades and
  withdrawal/retention rates
• Collected after the completion of the fall
  semester
• Instructor interviews
• Pre and post-semester interviews
• Instructor focus group lunch
• January 2009

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Data Analysis Winter 2009

• Quantitative Methods
• MS Excel used to create charts for each of the
  seven courses that compare and contrast student
  and instructor perceptions of
• Active and Collaborative Learning
• Student Interactions with Faculty Members
• Level of Academic Challenge
• SPSS used for frequencies and descriptive
  statistics, scale reliability analysis (Cronbach
  alpha), factor analysis, correlations (e.g.
  engagement score and course grade) and analysis
  of variance.

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Data Analysis Winter 2009

• Qualitative Methods
• Interview and focus group sessions digitally
  recorded and transcribed
• Transcripts compared to the responses from the
  open-ended online survey questions in order to
  identify themes and patterns.

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Findings
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Student Demographics

• 88 - working part time (61) or full time (27)
• 87 - off campus accommodation within driving
  distance
• 84 - core course in program
• 80 - in their first year of studies
• 80 - under the age of 25  
• 69 - female  
• 4 average number of course taken in the fall
  2008 semester
• Note 45 (140 of 311) response rate for the
  online student
• survey

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Technology Access

• 97 - access to high-speed home Internet
  connection (e.g. Shaw Cable, Telus DSL)  
• 96 - rate their computer skills as either
  intermediate (60) or advanced (36)
  (comfortable and enjoy using computers)
• 92 - have their own a cell phone
• 88 - have their own a MP3 digital music player
  (e.g. iPoD)
• 81 - have their own laptop computer    

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Course Technology Use

• Often
• Accessed course materials online (e.g. via
  Blackboard site, course wiki, etc.)
• Sometimes
• Used email or a discussion forum to communicate
  with the instructor(s) of this course
• Worked in teams or groups using information and
  communication technology (e.g. clickers,
  Blackboard, wikis, blogs, Google Docs, etc.)
• Used a MRC Library online database (e.g. EPSCO,
  ProQuest, etc.) to find material for a course
  assignment or project
• Used real-time communication tools (e.g.
  Elluminate, cell phone, chat group, Internet,
  instant messaging, etc.) to discuss or complete
  an assignment with classmates in this course
• Used clickers (e.g. personal response systems) in
  class
• Used a computer and/or a digital projector to
  make a class presentation
• Used a social networking application (e.g.
  Facebook, MySpace, Ning, etc.) for discussion of
  course material, assignments or project work

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Course Technology Use

• Rarely used a
• Wiki or other collaborative writing tool (e.g.
  Google Docs, etc.) for course assignments or
  projects
• Blog for course related work such as assignments
  or projects
• Cell phone, PDA (e.g. Palm Pilot) or other mobile
  device (e.g. iTouch) to access and review course
  related material
• Media sharing application (e.g. YouTube, Flikr,
  Podomatic, Slideshare) to create, share or access
  information for a course assignment or project
• Social bookmarking tool (e.g. Delicious, Furl,
  Connotea, etc.) to manage/organize and share
  online resources in this course
• Mashup application (e.g. Visuwords, Quintura,
  Intels Mash Maker, etc.) for course assignments
  or project work
• Virtual world application (e.g. Second Life, The
  Palace, Moove, etc.) for course assignments or
  project work

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Most Effective Aspect of Courses

• Interactive Technology Tools and Resources
• Blackboard
• Online lectures labs
• Resource multimedia websites
• Clicker quizzes
• Wikis
• Facebook
• Class Projects
• Group work
• Instructor
• Knowledge of the course content
• Way in which the instructor teaches
• Availability after class hours
• Desire for students to succeed
• Willingness to give extra help
• Good interaction with students
• Creating a relaxed atmosphere
• Enthusiastic

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Least Effective Aspect of Courses

• Workload
• Overwhelming work load
• Fast paced
• Too much reading
• Out of class time
• Lack of clear directions
• Online labs and tutorials
• Inquiry based learning
• Emphasis of self directed learning

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Advice to future students taking these courses

• Get to know instructor
• Ask for help
• Inquire about marks
• Always ask for feedback
• Approach teacher for questions
• Use online resources
• Use Blackboard
• Go on online and use the web resources
• Work hard
• Review notes after class
• Study for tests far ahead of time
• Keep up with readings
• Use time management
• Do not leave things till the last minute
• Attend class
• Go to tutorials and labs for extra help
• Enjoy the experience!!

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Suggestions to Improve the Courses

• Instructors
• More student feedback
• Better explanation of expectations
• Making attendance mandatory
• More traditional instruction (not so much
  technology)
• Class work
• Better distribution of workload and assignments
  throughout the semester
• More small assignments
• More group work

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Correlations Grades, Engagement, Blackboard
plt0.01 plt0.05
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Final Marks vs Active Collaborative Learning
Indicators (Fall 2008)
One way ANOVA p0.002 d0.70
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Final Marks vs Blackboard Usage (Fall 2008)
One-way ANOVA p0.007 d0.47
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Course Satisfaction

• 98 - agreed/strongly agreed that the
  technologies used in this course were
  appropriate for performing the tasks
  required
• 97 - agreed/strongly agreed that they
  would recommend this course to other
  students

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Discussion
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Definitions of Student Engagement
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Assessment Practices Interactive Learning
Technologies

• Blackboard as the course base camp
• Button links to interactive learning
  technologies, which provide on-going
  opportunities for self, peer and instructor
  assessment feedback
• Problem solving applications for on-going low and
  medium-stake assessments
• Student learning logs (blogs) portfolios for
  self assessment feedback and reflection
• Clicker quizzes for peer instruction and
  assessment
• Peer review tools for peer assessment feedback
• Group pages for communication, collaboration and
  project construction
• Course wikis for co-creation of knowledge and
  understanding of course concepts

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Blackboard as the Course Base Camp
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Problem Solving Applications
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Blogs Reflective Journaling
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Portfolios

• Get image from Rods course

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Clicker Quizzes for Peer Instruction Assessment
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Calibrated Peer Review Tool
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Group Pages for Project Construction
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Course Wiki for Co-Construction of Knowledge
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Next Steps
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Next Steps

• Make design modifications to each of the 7
  first-year undergraduate courses based on initial
  study results
• Deploy a revised version of the courses in the
  winter or fall 2009 semesters
• Administer online student faculty surveys and
  offer a 50.00 draw prize, in each of the 7
  courses, to increase student participation
• Compare data from the initial and revised version
  of the courses

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Preliminary Conclusion

• Improvement in higher education will require
  converting teaching from a solo sport to a
  community-based research activity. (Herbert
  Simon, Former President of Carnegie Mellon
  University)

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Questions
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Contact Information