Investigating the effects of gamification-enhanced flipped learning on undergraduate students’ behavioral and cognitive engagement

ABSTRACT

In recent years, flipped learning has attracted much attention around the world. This instructional approach is appealing because it can free up class time for knowledge application activities with help from the instructor and peers. However, its implementation can be fraught with challenges. Student disengagement in out-of-class activities, for example, is one of the major challenges of flipped learning. The purpose of this study is to examine whether gamification can enhance student engagement in a flipped course. A comparison study was conducted, involving two classes of undergraduate students in an Information Management course. The results indicated that students in the gamification-enhanced flipped learning group (n?=?48) were more likely to complete the pre-class and post-class activities on time than those in the non-gamified flipped learning group (n?=?48). Students in the gamification-enhanced flipped learning group also produced higher quality artifacts than the non-gamified flipped learning group in the pre-class thinking activities. Moreover, students in the gamification-enhanced flipped learning group scored significantly higher in the post-course test than did their non-gamified counterparts.     

高校专业培养计划设计

受英国现行专业规格的启发,本文提出了一种专业培养计划的新方案,旨在全面落实素质教育的三个方面,即知识、能力和人格.在计划中引入学生学习产出的概念,由此出发制订培养目标、教学方法和学生评价方法.由于第二课堂在素质教育中不可或缺的作用,宜将第二课堂活动引入培养计划.     

‘Feedback interpreters’: the role of learning development professionals in facilitating university students’ engagement with feedback

Understanding how students engage with assessment feedback is a key concern of higher education professionals. Research commonly represents the perspectives of students and academic staff, yet little consideration is given to the role of learning development staff, despite these individuals supporting students when interpreting and implementing feedback. We report the findings from interviews with learning developers working in a UK University, exploring their insights into the barriers students confront when engaging with feedback, and into the role of learning developers within the feedback landscape. This study suggests that, while many challenges exist for staff and students in the context of assessment feedback, learning development professionals are able to provide a meaningful source of guidance, in partnership with academic staff, and are able to promote students’ development through dialogic interactions. Hitherto these interactions have not been fully explored, yet they provide powerful insight into the hidden processes of feedback recipience.     

Engineering students’ experiences of interactive teaching in calculus

This study reports on an educational development initiative where peer instruction was used instead of traditional lectures in a calculus course for first-year engineering students. The aim of the study was to explore students’ experiences of this method. Data were collected by means of an open-ended questionnaire on two occasions: early and late in the course. The data were analyzed with an inductive content analysis. The findings comprise three qualitatively different ways to experience the interactive teaching method in calculus: (1) enthusiasm, (2) nuanced skepticism and (3) aversion. The categories differed regarding emotional reactions to the teaching, experiences of learning, conceptions of teaching and learning, and experiences of meaningfulness. Many students expressed enthusiasm for learning with peer instruction and noted that the method gave both teachers and students feedback on what students have difficulties with. These students perceived that they were responsible for their own learning. Other students experienced that peer instruction had some advantages and disadvantages, and preferred a mix between traditional lectures and peer instruction sessions. They seemed to believe that teachers and students share responsibility for learning. Some students expressed an aversion for peer instruction and the method seemed to challenge their beliefs of how teaching and learning is best conducted. Our study illustrates that educational development initiatives, even though based on research on student learning, do not benefit all students. One of the major obstacles seems to be that students’ underlying beliefs regarding teaching and learning may be counterproductive to the ideas behind the educational initiative. We suggest that beliefs regarding teaching and learning need to be addressed when introducing new teaching and learning methods.     

Students’ perceptions of the flipped classroom model in an engineering course: a case study

The flipped classroom model is an innovative educational trend that has been widely adopted in the social sciences but not engineering education. In this model, an active instructional approach shifts the educational strategy from a teacher- to a student-centred approach. The purpose of this study is to compare the learning outcomes of engineering students attending a flipped-model section of the Dynamics of Structures course with students attending a traditional, lecture-based section of the same course taught by the same instructor. The results confirm previous research showing that test scores in the flipped course sections were slightly higher than traditional sections. Although the improvement in test scores was statistically insignificant, student statements indicated that the flipped model promoted a deeper, broader perspective on learning, facilitated problem-solving strategies and improved critical-thinking abilities, self-confidence and teamwork skills, which are needed for a successful engineering career.     

‘Time is not enough.’ Workload in higher education: a student perspective

Students' workload has been recognised as a major factor in the teaching and learning environment. This paper starts by structuring the different conceptualisations of workload described in the scientific literature. Besides the traditional distinction between objective and subjective or perceived workload, a distinction between conceptualisations focusing on the perception of quantitative and qualitative aspects of workload comes to the fore. This qualitative study investigates what workload means for students in higher education. Forty Civil Engineering and Educational Sciences Master's students were interviewed. The results show that ‘having time’ is a precondition for experiencing a manageable workload. When this precondition is fulfilled, the interest of a student and the ability to plan and set priorities play an important role in the perception of workload. Finally, the results show that several aspects of the learning environment can influence this interest and the perception of workload.     

基于学习过程的本科教育学情调查报告2009

全面提高质量,大力提升人才培养水平是中国高等教育当前面临的重要任务。本研究聚焦于大学生的学习过程及投入,从大学生作为独立自主的学习者,其学习行为与大学教育实践之间的互动来揭示和分析我国不同类型大学的本科教育状况。本文使用的调查工具是根据全美大学生学习性投入调查(NSSE)问卷,由清华大学教育研究院和美国印第安纳大学共同组成的研究团队完成的汉化版中国大学生学习性投入调查问卷(NSSE-China)。研究数据来自清华大学教育研究院主持的中国大学生学习性投入研究课题组2009年6月在全国23所自愿参加课题研究的本科院校,通过完全随机抽样获得的24252名本科生样本。论文运用五大可比指标、反映教育过程及环节的指标,根据参与院校的不同类型(985院校、211院校、地方本科院校),对大学本科生的学情状况进行实证性描述和分析。     

\"扎根\"课堂:翻转课堂的扎根式教学创新

新冠肺炎疫情影响下混合式教学在中国大学校园得到广泛应用,越来越多大学教师采用翻转课堂来开展教学活动,但在如何实现以学习者为中心方面仍面临着诸多挑战,进而影响翻转课堂的教学过程与质量。为改善翻转课堂在教学活动等方面存在的不足之处,运用扎根理论来改进翻转课堂的教学模式设计,基于扎根理论研究程序开发扎根式课堂学习规范和标准,构建以个体问题导向学习、小组合作翻转研讨、集体翻转研讨等为特征的翻转学习机制,并在课程教学中进行了实践应用,检验其必要性和可行性。研究表明,对翻转课堂进行扎根式教学设计,可以更有效地实现以学习者为中心的翻转教学,为大学生从浅层学习走向深度学习提供有益帮助。     

Where freshmen aspirations meet reality: factors influencing the learning outcomes of a living-and-learning program in an Asian university

ABSTRACT

This study explored the impact of a living-and-learning program (LLP) in a residential college of an Asian university on a freshmen cohort. It utilized a theoretical framework based on Astin’s input-intermediate outcome-environment-outcome model. We examined survey data collected at two time points a year apart to understand how the freshmen’s learning outcomes were influenced by their pre-college intentions and beliefs, their involvement and leadership in the LLP, and the LLP’s environment. We found that pre-college perceived self-confidence had no impact on the learning outcomes. However, pre-college perceived competence in personal and intellectual growth was a significant contributing factor for involvement and post-college self-confidence. The freshmen’s involvement in turn positively predicted their personal and intellectual growth and post-college self-confidence. The academic aspects of the LLP’s environment also contributed to this growth. The findings have ramifications for the design of LLPs, in particular, the definition and measurement of learning outcomes, the criteria for admissions, and the facilitation of student involvement.     

Educator–student communication in sex & relationship education: a comparison of teacher and peer-led interventions

This paper presents findings from a comparative study of peer- and teacher-led Sex and Relationship Education (SRE). One lesson delivered by a peer educator, and one lesson delivered by a teacher was observed with the aim of exploring the communicative process between educators and students within SRE. It is claimed that open communication between students and peer educators promotes the adoption of positive attitudes to sexual health, making it a potential alternative to teacher-led provision. Yet to our knowledge, no studies have investigated the communicative process within peer-led adolescent health interventions to examine factors underpinning its potential efficacy. The development of a coding scheme to measure the extent to which educators and students are communicating openly within SRE is used to describe the communicative process between sex educators and students, characterise differences in communication within peer- and teacher-led conditions and discuss how these differences affect student participation in SRE. Results suggest interaction of students in the peer-led condition was different to that of students receiving teacher-led SRE; and provide valuable insight into educator–student communication in the context of classroom-based SRE.     

Flipping the laboratory: improving student engagement and learning outcomes in second year science courses

The flipped classroom pedagogy was implemented in two core undergraduate science courses; Animal and Plant Biochemistry II (APB) and Microbiology and Invertebrate Biology II (MIB) to encourage students to prepare for laboratory classes. Students often attend class without little understanding or appreciation of what they are going to learn in the laboratory, the types of techniques they are going to use or the safety precautions required. This is not only hazardous for students but also requires detailed explanations from teaching staff at the start of class, overloading students with information. This disconnection between theory and practice was overcome by ‘flipping the laboratory’ to integrate online, interactive pre-laboratory activities into the curriculum. The aims of this study were to: (1) evaluate student engagement with pre-laboratory content; (2) investigate student performance and learning outcomes; (3) review failure rates following implementation of pre-laboratory activities. Students agreed that the pre-laboratory activities bridged the gap between theory and practice (65%) and enhanced their engagement with course material (79%). The integration of pre-laboratory activities significantly increased student learning outcomes immediately after implementation into the curriculum, despite a 26.8% increase in enrolments from 2011 to 2017. Failure rates significantly decreased in both APB and MIB over three consecutive years.