Exploring factors impacting student engagement in open access courses

Studies on student engagement in learning have mainly focused on undergraduate degree courses. Limited attempts have been made to examine student engagement on open access enabling courses, which is targeted to underrepresented students in higher education. Students on open access enabling courses are at high risk due to a low academic achievement in high school, the gap between schooling, work and post-secondary education, and different kinds of personal and academic barriers. This paper reports on a pilot quantitative study using a survey method undertaken at an Australian university. The study examined a range of issues related to student engagement, including learning barriers, engagement and experience in learning, skills attained, motivation to complete study, career pathway, and key reasons for selecting a particular pathway. The study found that online students are less engaged in learning and, therefore, efforts need to be made to improve their sense of belonging to the university. The findings of the study are critical due to high attrition on open access enabling courses and it argues the need to improve the engagement, retention, and success of students on such courses.     

An investigation into the role played by research assessment in the socio-geographic fragmentation of undergraduate economics education in the UK

Student engagement in academic activities is a critical factor contributing to the overall success of students studying in higher education institutions. Yet the factors influencing student engagement in academic activities are still largely unknown. This study begins to address this knowledge gap by investigating the influence of student connectedness (relationships with peers and teachers), motivation to study (sense of purpose) and perception of workload upon student engagement in academic activities. During 2015, a total of 209 students responded to a survey distributed to first-year undergraduate students enrolled in a university business school in Queensland, Australia. Structural equation modelling was used to investigate the proposed relationships. Results suggest that student-student (peer) relationships, teacher-student relationships, and students’ sense of purpose for studying a higher education degree, were central to student engagement in academic activities. In addition, teacher-student relationships, and a strong sense of purpose were central to perceptions of student workloads. Finally, sense of purpose was found to moderate the relationship between both teacher-student and student-student relationships and also, perceptions of workload and student engagement. The findings from this study support the importance of developing effective teacher-student relationships, facilitating positive student-student relationships and communicating a clear sense of purpose to students, so as to improve their engagement in academic activities and optimise perceptions of workloads.     

Student engagement scale: development,reliability and validity

In this study, the purpose was to develop a student engagement scale for higher education. The participants were 805 students. In the process of developing the item pool regarding the scale, related literature was examined in detail and interviews were held. Six factors – valuing, sense of belonging, cognitive engagement, peer relationships (emotional engagement-I), relationships with faculty members (emotional engagement-II) and behavioural engagement within the scope of the components of campus engagement and class engagement – made up of 41 items were identified. The total variance explained was 59%. A higher student engagement score was regarded as an indicator that the student had a high level of engagement with the university, campus and class, while a lower score demonstrated that the student’s engagement with the campus and class was weak or that disengagement could occur.     

Guests in someone else’s house? Sense of belonging among ethnic minority students in a Hong Kong university

The evolution of globalisation and ensuing internationalisation of higher education need radical reform of institutional policies and practices to promote education for diversity, equity and inclusion. Extant literature on university/college student persistence/retention witnesses a lack of research on the subjective sense of belonging on campus among ethnic minoritised students who have been historically marginalised in higher education and are now part of the emerging demographic on campus. This study attempted to fill the gap. Engaging qualitative individual interviews with 12 university students of South/Southeast Asian ethnicity in Hong Kong, the purpose of this study was to examine their perceptions and experiences of institutional affiliations and engagement in university. Findings suggested that being connected to the programme and university, and the depth and quality of intragroup dynamics, are key to a sense of belonging among ethnic minority students. Findings also elucidated a lack of cross-cultural interaction and racial/ethnic diversity within the university environment, which shaped participants’ feelings of isolation and exclusionary experiences as they sought to adjust to the campus academically and socially. The study’s findings could help inform the development and evaluation of institutional strategies that can sustain minoritised students in university transitions and promote institutional connectedness and academic success among all students on campus.     

Why lecturers still matter: the impact of lecturer-student exchange on student engagement and intention to leave university prematurely

This research examines the impact of lecturer-student exchange (student-LMX) on engagement, course satisfaction, achievement, and intention to leave university prematurely for 363 students in one Australian university. Survey and grade point average (GPA) data were collected from domestic undergraduate first- and second-year students and analysed using structural equation modelling. The results indicated that student’s levels of engagement and course satisfaction fully mediated the relationship between student-LMX and intention to leave university, when demographic and socio-economic factors were controlled for. In an era when low student engagement and attrition is often attributed to individual demographic factors, and lecturers are under increasing threat of being replaced by technology, this research offers compelling evidence regarding the role of lecturer-student relationships in enhancing tertiary student outcomes.     

Student engagement in the educational interface: understanding the mechanisms of student success

Student success and retention continue to be of concern for higher education institutions. Wider participation, combined with lower completion rates for non-traditional students, highlights the need for new ways of understanding the student experience to ground policy and practice. This article provides this insight by drawing together a number of key constructs to refine a recent framework of student engagement. We argue that the transition metaphor, focusing on the first year, is limited because it depicts differences between students and institutions as both transient and temporal. Instead, we use a cultural lens to introduce the educational interface as a metaphor for the individual psychosocial space within which institutional and student factors combine and student engagement in learning occurs. Incorporating the interface into the existing framework of student engagement makes three contributions to our understanding of the student experience. First, the educational interface is a tangible way of representing the complex interactions between students and institutions, and how those interactions influence engagement. Second, the refined framework highlights four specific psychosocial constructs: self-efficacy, emotions, belonging and well-being, which, we contend, are critical mechanisms for mediating the interactions between student and institutional characteristics and student engagement and success. Finally, the refined framework helps to explain why some students with demographic characteristics associated with lower completion rates are retained and do go on to successfully complete their studies, while similar others do not. These three contributions, the interface, the key constructs within it being mediating mechanisms and their explanatory utility, provide focus for the design and implementation of curricula and co-curricular initiatives aimed at enhancing student success and retention, and importantly to evaluate the impact of these interventions.     

A face in a sea of faces: exploring university students’ reasons for non-attendance to teaching sessions

In the past 20 years, the landscape of Higher Education in the United Kingdom has changed considerably. With the prospect of tuition fees spiralling above £9,000 per year, per student, it is important to explore the impact this has upon the student experience. In spite of the vast financial investment current students make towards their education, student attendance and engagement remain low. The present study therefore adopted a qualitative approach using focus groups to explore reasons for non-attendance at university teaching sessions. Four key themes emerged; these surrounded issues about a sense of belonging to university, views of the teaching (material taught and the personality and method of the tutor), perceptions of being a consumer and external pressures. This research suggests that universities should pay particular attention to the reasons why students do not attend and possibly change practice, providing more support where appropriate.     

Social engagement in a diversifying campus: a phenomenological exploration

With more non-local (Mainland China and overseas) students admitted into the universities of Hong Kong, the student population on campus is becoming much more diversified. This study was a phenomenological inquiry into the social engagement experiences of local and non-local Chinese students in their first year at a university in Hong Kong. Qualitative data was obtained from 10 focus groups. The findings suggested that the majority of the students in the study were active in social engagement and most achieved a sense of belonging to the university or its sub-communities. The culture in student communities played an important role in students' social engagement. It pushed students to become intensively involved in out-of-class activities and challenged them to reflect on the direction in which they would carry this historical legacy forward in the diversifying campus.     

The Experiences of International and Local Students at Three Australian Universities

In 1992 international fee‐paying and local students currently enrolled at the three tertiary institutions in South Australia were surveyed by a common questionnaire on students’ study‐related and personal experiences, and issues related to students’ choice and subsequent evaluation of their institution. The breadth of the student sample and the comparative data the questionnaire generated present an overarching view of the experiences and evaluations of a diverse range of university students.

The results of the survey show that while international students experience more problems, and experience them to a more serious degree than their Australian counterparts, the nature of the issues which are of most concern are generally shared. These are concerns about financial issues such as access to Austudy for local students, and the level of fees for international students and the ability to find part‐time work for both groups. The other broad group of issues of concern was study related: workload, fear of failure, loss of motivation, doubts about academic ability, nervousness and tension. Notably, in spite of the differences ‐between the three institutions – the University of Adelaide representing a ‘traditional’ university, Flinders University of South Australia, a ‘1960s’ university and the University of South Australia a ‘post‐1987’ university – the student responses across the three institutions were remarkably similar.

In terms of student evaluations of the quality of the education and services provided, Australian students were consistently more likely to rate aspects of teaching more positively than their international counterparts, but for both groups it was evident, particularly in their comments, that aspects of teaching such as the quality of lectures, accessibility of staff, availability of resources and staff: student ratios were of major concern.

The findings lead to the recommendations that universities could improve both local and international student experience by providing clear information about courses and course expectations, by the provision of effective feedback on assignments, by embedding the teaching of academic skills within courses, by increasing course flexibility to enable students to balance study and earning demands, and by ensuring that student support services are adequately resourced.     

Student and Instructor Perspectives of ITV Instruction

ABSTRACT

This mixed-methods grounded theory study examined student and faculty perceptions of engagement in Interactive Television (ITV) courses. Survey participants from two regional higher learning institutions consisted of students (n = 442) and faculty (n = 99) with previous ITV experience. Data were analyzed using principal factor analysis, Independent T-test, and ANOVA. Qualitative data consisted of focus groups and student (n = 22) and faculty (n = 10) personal interviews. Factor analysis of survey data identified three engagement themes: dialogic, autonomous, and interpersonal. Significant differences were noted between student and faculty perceptions on all three factors. Faculty rated levels of dialogic and autonomous interaction lower than students, while students reported lower levels of interpersonal interaction. Qualitative coding revealed that students attribute lower dialogic and autonomous interactions to reduced interpersonal interactions. What initially emerged as a simple three-factor model of student engagement in quantitative analysis, became a model of three factors driven by one prominent factor – interpersonal interaction.     

Retention in a Bachelor of Education (Early childhood studies) course: students say why they stay and others leave

The literature suggests that student attrition at the university level has been of growing concern in many countries. Student attrition has a number of implications for universities, chief amongst them are losses to revenue and investment in higher education. While many studies have examined causes for attrition from an institutional perspective, this study examines how the Bachelor of Education (Early childhood studies) that sits within the School of Education can support the retention of students from the students’ perspectives. Using a qualitative methodology that recorded up to 40 hours of interviews with 20 students provided insights into why they stay at university and what aspects of the Early childhood studies degree support them in staying. Conversely, the students also comment on those aspects that are not supportive and could impact on retention. The data revealed that a sense of belonging was very important and that particular course-specific activities at certain times supported developing this belonging. The students identified the importance of a mentorship program and how this program needs to be made available from the commencement of their course. Other factors contributing to retention included well-placed practicums, career choice, designated study times, as well as study groups and supportive and responsive lecturers.     

Factors affecting student engagement in HEIs - it is all about good teaching

The passive role of students in their learning and education and the absence of student engagement in higher education institutions (HEIs) are quite common in many higher education institutions in developing countries. The main objective of the research presented in this paper is to explore the influential factors on student engagement in HEIs in the situational frame where student engagement and active learning and teaching do not have a long tradition. To answer our research questions, we conducted a survey with 279 undergraduate students from four universities in Libya. Our findings show that the availability and active usage of the university’s ICTs resources, the university’s reputation and teachers’ activating influence on students most efficiently predict student engagement in HEIs. The role of teachers and their competencies to use active learning techniques are perceived to be very influential in promoting student engagement.     

Academic and social integration in higher education: a survey of satisfaction and dissatisfaction within a first‐year education studies cohort at a new university

A survey of student satisfaction and dissatisfaction was undertaken within an undergraduate education studies cohort at a new university in the English Midlands. The cohort included both ‘traditional’ and ‘non‐traditional’ students and represented an increasingly typical ‘widened’ community of students within higher education. This student‐ informed survey enabled expression of facets of experience which were found to be deeply satisfying or deeply dissatisfying by the cohort and which also had the potential to impact upon their academic and social integration. The cohort was asked to link facets found deeply satisfying or deeply dissatisfying to the likelihood of their retention and degree completion or the likelihood of their exit from the institution. Themes emerging were concerned with teaching and learning, debt and money worries, workload and support. Many of the facets identified fall within institutional control and can be managed in order that both ‘traditional’ and ‘non‐traditional’ students may achieve integration, maintain their personal vision and be retained. The survey methodology employed can be adapted to accommodate contextualization within other higher education institutions. It is suggested that engagement with such survey methodology represents investment in both institutional, educational and financial health.     

An examination of the relationship between Facebook groups attached to university courses and student engagement

Educators and researchers are increasingly interested in the benefits of using Facebook groups attached to university courses, largely around connectedness, engagement and sense of belonging. However, thus far, there have been no broad-scale investigations on the potential outcomes of course-attached Facebook groups. The current study used both within- and between-group analyses on 471 participants, in order to investigate whether courses with an attached official or unofficial Facebook group was related to increased student engagement (in the categories of relationships with faculty members, peer relationships, behavioural engagement, cognitive engagement, valuing and a sense of belonging) and degree identity compared to courses without Facebook groups. Results indicated that students reported interacting more with unofficial than official Facebook groups. Courses with an official Facebook group had significantly greater staff connectedness compared to courses without an official Facebook group, while courses with either an official or unofficial Facebook group had a significantly higher peer relationships compared to courses without any Facebook group. Students with either an official or unofficial Facebook group had a significantly higher sense of belonging. Though students with either an official or unofficial Facebook group reported higher degree identity, this may be primarily due to the unofficial, rather than official Facebook groups; this difference may only exist in the unofficial, but not the official Facebook groups.     

Sense of Belonging as a Predictor of Intentions to Persist Among African American and White First-Year College Students

This study investigates the role of students’ sense of belonging to their university in college student retention. Using individual growth curve modeling, we examined (a) whether sense of belonging predicts intentions to persist, and (b) the effects of an intervention designed to enhance students’ sense of belonging. African American and white first-year students completed surveys three times throughout the academic year. Students were randomly assigned to a group that received an intervention to enhance students’ sense of belonging or to one of two control groups. Sense of belonging was found to predict intentions to persist, controlling for background variables and other predictors of persistence. Overall, sense of belonging and intentions to persist declined over the academic year. However, the decline in sense of belonging was smaller for students in the intervention group. Implications for the development of college retention programs and for existing models of student persistence are discussed.     

基于S大学在校大学生学校归属感的调查研究

学生是学校存在和发展的基础与前提,让学生在一个认同的、有归属感的学校生活和学习,对于学校和学生来说都是非常重要的。因此,有必要对影响大学生学校归属感的各种因素进行探究,以便找到相应的对策来解决学生的困惑。环境、成长、规范、关系和情感因素与学校归属感的相关程度较大,是组成学校归属感的主要因素。学生的家庭背景、经历等会影响学生对学校归属感的强度。一般来讲女生的学校归属感比男生的要强。担任学生干部或参加社团活动都会增强学生的学校归属感。因此,学校要开展一些针对性活动,教师要多关怀和帮助学生,多利用网络途径加强师生间、学生间的联系,提高学生的学校归属感,从而健康成才。     

Examining the engagement of career academy and comprehensive high school students in the United States

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the levels of student engagement of career academy students to those at a traditional comprehensive high school using propensity score matching and structural equation modeling. We found that academy students had significantly higher levels of emotional engagement and significantly lower levels of behavioral engagement than those at comprehensive schools. We also found no statistically significant differences in the levels of cognitive engagement of academy students compared to comprehensive school students. We believe the academy model has the promise of transforming the high school experience for students as it relates to their attachment to the school, their relationships with peers and teachers, and their sense of belonging and safety. However, academies need to work with students to create and develop co-curricular and extracurricular activities of interest to engage students in their schools at a higher level.     

工科专业本科生学习性投入的性别差异分析

本研究使用华中地区一所理工科院校的调查数据,分析工科专业本科生在学习性投入和学业收获中存在的性别差异,检验工科专业本科生学习性投入对其学业收获的影响是否因性别而存在不同。研究发现：工科专业女生在学习努力程度、课外拓展学习、学习意义感、学习动力及感知到的学术环境和人际关系等因素上均显著高于男生,但在生师交流互动、专业兴趣上显著低于男生;工科专业女生在校期间学习性投入程度更高,学习成绩更好,但对自我学习收获的评价相对较低;学习性投入各因素对工科专业男女生学业收获的正向促进作用也有所不同。对此,本文提出工程教育改革应重视工科专业女生的专业自信心和归属感的建立,以消除单一的男性主导的工科学习环境对女生学习及发展的潜在影响。     

Building student belonging and engagement: insights into higher education students’ experiences of participating and learning together

Student belonging and engagement has received increased attention in the context of an expanding and more diverse higher education student population. Student retention is regarded as a priority with many universities augmenting their retention strategies to instil a sense of belonging. This article provides insights into first year Business Management students’ experiences of starting their degrees and retention interventions at a university in the South of England. It is based on findings from an ongoing study that applied Wenger's social theory of learning and adopted an appreciative inquiry approach to focus group interviewing to investigate students’ perceptions. Students developed a sense of belonging, constructed learner identities, made sense of their learning and gained confidence, but also experienced instances of tension and frustration that raise questions about the extent to which sociality practices within evolving communities of practice can address diverse engagement and identity development needs and mitigate disengagement.     

Does students' machismo fit in school? Clarifying the implications of traditional gender role ideology for school belonging

How much students feel at home in school predicts academic outcomes. In view of the gender achievement gap, it is worth examining the gendered pattern of this school belonging. Studies on school belonging, however, have barely acknowledged possible obstructive effects of traditional gender role attitudes of individual students and student cultures. This study examines the relationship between gender role attitudes and a sense of school belonging among a sample of 6380 students from 59 Flemish schools at the start of their secondary education. The results of multilevel analyses indicate that boys show less sense of school belonging than girls, as do students with more traditional beliefs about gender roles. Moreover, student attitudes related to gender roles are strongly shared at the school level, so that we can speak of a gender role student culture. Students enrolled in more traditional gender role student cultures reveal less school belonging.