Dataset Information

ASPECT: A Survey to Assess Student Perspective of Engagement in an Active-Learning Classroom.

ABSTRACT: The primary measure used to determine relative effectiveness of in-class activities has been student performance on pre/posttests. However, in today's active-learning classrooms, learning is a social activity, requiring students to interact and learn from their peers. To develop effective active-learning exercises that engage students, it is important to gain a more holistic view of the student experience in an active-learning classroom. We have taken a mixed-methods approach to iteratively develop and validate a 16-item survey to measure multiple facets of the student experience during active-learning exercises. The instrument, which we call Assessing Student Perspective of Engagement in Class Tool (ASPECT), was administered to a large introductory biology class, and student responses were subjected to exploratory factor analysis. The 16 items loaded onto three factors that cumulatively explained 52% of the variation in student response: 1) value of activity, 2) personal effort, and 3) instructor contribution. ASPECT provides a rapid, easily administered means to measure student perception of engagement in an active-learning classroom. Gaining a better understanding of students' level of engagement will help inform instructor best practices and provide an additional measure for comprehensively assessing the impact of different active-learning strategies.

SUBMITTER: Wiggins BL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5459250 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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ASPECT: A Survey to Assess Student Perspective of Engagement in an Active-Learning Classroom.

Wiggins Benjamin L BL Eddy Sarah L SL Wener-Fligner Leah L Freisem Karen K Grunspan Daniel Z DZ Theobald Elli J EJ Timbrook Jerry J Crowe Alison J AJ

CBE life sciences education 20170101 2

The primary measure used to determine relative effectiveness of in-class activities has been student performance on pre/posttests. However, in today's active-learning classrooms, learning is a social activity, requiring students to interact and learn from their peers. To develop effective active-learning exercises that engage students, it is important to gain a more holistic view of the student experience in an active-learning classroom. We have taken a mixed-methods approach to iteratively deve ...[more]

PMID: 28495936

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Project description:Teaching is now experiencing a new centrality due to the fast socio-cultural transformations, the vertical growth of digital media and, therefore, the new ways children and young people learn. New paradigms and teaching methodologies are emerging to meet the new educational needs; among them, the "Episodes of Situated Learning" approach (EAS in Italian) was chosen for this study. This approach broadly refers to the "Flipped Class" model, in which the lesson structure reverses the traditional teaching/learning cycle with a positive outcome on engagement and learning. The present study aims to explore whether the EAS teaching methodology, according to literature about the Flipped Class model, has a positive outcome on student engagement, focusing on its emotional, cognitive and behavioral components. In particular, we hypothesize that the EAS teaching methodology changes teachers' behavior in classroom, increasing their movements and body expression during the lesson. Moreover, we expect higher levels of self-efficacy and positive emotions and lower levels of perceived anxiety in teachers, thus improving students' level of engagement. The research was conducted in a secondary school, in Milan, and includes a classroom of sixteen students and three teachers. We chose a quasi-experimental nested design, a mixed-method approach that combines the qualitative and quantitative collection and analysis of data, in order to reach, as far as possible, a holistic, effective and exhaustive representation of the studied phenomenon. Pre-post measures, including video-recording, systematic observation and questionnaires, of both students and teachers were collected during the 8 months of experimentation. This research project could foster positive outcomes for participants as well as the broader society, in which school dropout is increasing. Many authors positively associate low levels of students' engagement to high rates of school dropout; for this reason, working on improving teaching methodologies and students' engagement measurement, could be an effective way to enhance learning and opposing school dropout.

Project description:BackgroundActive learning relies on students' engagement with teachers, study materials and/or each other. Although medical education has adopted active learning as a core component of medical training, teachers have difficulties recognising when and why their students engage or disengage and how to teach in ways that optimise engagement. With a better understanding of the dynamics of student engagement in small-group active learning settings, teachers could be facilitated in effectively engaging their students.MethodsWe conducted a video-stimulated recall study to explore medical students' engagement during small-group learning activities. We recorded one teaching session of two different groups and selected critical moments of apparent (dis)engagement. These moments served as prompts for the 15 individual semi-structured interviews we held. Interview data were analysed using Template Analysis style of thematic analysis. To guide the analysis, we used a framework that describes student engagement as a dynamic and multidimensional concept, consisting of behavioural, cognitive and emotional components.ResultsThe analysis uncovered three main findings: (1) In-class student engagement followed a spiral-like pattern. Once students were engaged or disengaged on one dimension, other dimensions were likely to follow suit. (2) Students' willingness to engage in class was decided before class, depending on their perception of a number of personal, social and educational antecedents of engagement. (3) Distinguishing engagement from disengagement appeared to be difficult for teachers, because the intention behind student behaviour was not always identifiable.DiscussionThis study adds to the literature by illuminating the dynamic process of student engagement and explaining the difficulty of recognising and influencing this process in practice. Based on the importance of discerning the intentions behind student behaviour, we advise teachers to use their observations of student (dis)engagement to initiate interaction with students with open and inviting prompts. This can help teachers to (re-)engage students in their classrooms.

Dataset Information

ASPECT: A Survey to Assess Student Perspective of Engagement in an Active-Learning Classroom.

Publications

ASPECT: A Survey to Assess Student Perspective of Engagement in an Active-Learning Classroom.

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