How do I engage a diverse range of learners?

Student Engagement : A Classroom Action Research project

Having identified several key Teaching and Learning challenges in a core subject in MGPM/A, MBAMPM and MBIS awards, I undertook a Classroom Action Research project.

The key challenges included low class attendance, low levels of participation, low academic levels, and high levels of Academic Integrity breaches. These challenges were tied to student engagement, and the project aimed to improve student engagement, leading to improvement of student understanding and learning.

Student engagement is seen as a predictor of student learning outcomes and is required within a culture of Academic Integrity. Learning and Teaching Activities were introduced over 5 classes, allowing students to collaboratively solve problems, that were directly and constructively aligned to the Subject Learning Outcomes and the Summative Assessment Tasks.

Student confidence and engagement improvements were identified; however, class attendance was at 63%. Students who attended and wished to participate, expressed satisfaction in the teaching and learning approach and an improvement in academic outcomes along with a reduction in Academic Integrity breaches have been found. Causation, however, cannot yet be proven. The research outcomes create more questions and proposes further research into student engagement.

Follow the details in the next blogs