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UW-Stout Menomonie, WI

Student Engagement: A Phenomenological Study and Follow-up Survey Dan Riordan, PhD Professor of English, UW-Stout Wendy S. Knutson Institutional Research Associate, UW-Stout. UW-Stout Menomonie, WI. Malcolm Baldrige Award recipient - 2001 8417 students Student Faculty Ratio: 20:1

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UW-Stout Menomonie, WI

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  1. Student Engagement: A Phenomenological Studyand Follow-up Survey Dan Riordan, PhDProfessor of English, UW-StoutWendy S. KnutsonInstitutional Research Associate, UW-Stout

  2. UW-StoutMenomonie, WI • Malcolm Baldrige Award recipient - 2001 • 8417 students • Student Faculty Ratio: 20:1 • 28 undergraduate majors • About 725 undergraduate courses • 29 programs • 39 undergraduate minors • 15 graduate majors • 18 programs • Colleges: Arts & Science, Human Development, Technology, Engineering and Management • School of Education

  3. Study Origins • Summer 2005--“Targeted Project” assigned • Address areas of concern with NSSE • Enhance student learning and engagement • Fall 2005--4-Phase plan created • Qualitative Interviews--2005-2006 • Quantitative Survey--2006-2007 • Faculty Development Programs--2005, 2006, 2007 • Assess effect 2007-2008

  4. TLC Involvement • Qualitative research experts on TLC board were closely involved in developing 05-06 interview study. • Justified use of method • Helped formulate questions • Assisted with selecting interviewees and conducting interviews • BPA investigated data and compiled report

  5. Use of Qualitative Study • Used to derive questions for 2006-2007 quantitative study • Used as basis for summer workshop • Results circulated to all faculty via US mail

  6. Study Design • Known as a phenomenological study • “Describes the meaning of the lived experiences for several individuals about a concept or the phenomenon” (Creswell)

  7. Analyzing Phenomenological Data • Epoche – to refrain from judgment; to abstain from or stay away from the everyday, ordinary way of perceiving things. • Phenomenological Reduction • Not only a way of seeing, but a way of listening with a conscious and deliberate intention of opening ourselves to phenomena as phenomena, in their own right.

  8. Analyzing Phenomenological Data • Transcripts read multiple times in their entirety by investigator. • Comments related to engagement extracted • All comments recorded and given equal weight • Comments independently analyzed • BPA office • Faculty member/interviewer • Graduate student with qualitative research experience

  9. Analyzing Phenomenological Data • Criteria for extracted comments • Does it contain a moment of the experience that is a necessary and sufficient constituent for understanding it? • Is it possible to abstract it and label it? • Comments that did not meet the above criteria were eliminated.

  10. Analyzing Phenomenological Data • Thematic Development • Themes were representative of all participants • Common themes compared from all reviewers • BPA office responsible for final selection and description of common themes • At least five responses were needed to identify a primary or secondary theme

  11. Results • Six primary themes were identified • Relationships • Empowerment • Application • Passion of the instructor • Asking questions • Openness to experience • Secondary themes were also developed

  12. Relationships • To have your voice heard or to feel like you are having more of a conversation with the professor versus a lecture. • I think it helps when the instructor knows your name to help you feel more connected with them.

  13. Empowerment • Here’s the subject. You get to choose how you want to go about doing this project. • Where the instructor gives you that share in what we’re learning.

  14. Application • Where I understand what the instructor is talking about and I’m remembering it to where I can use it later on. • I also think that engagement is hands-on, minds-on basically, where you’re given an opportunity to actually practice what you’re taught.

  15. The Passion of the Instructor • You can just tell when an instructor really likes what they do. • There is so much that goes along with being passionate about what you’re teaching.

  16. Asking Questions • If you have questions, you’re not afraid to say, “Hey, I don’t understand something.” • I would think the attitudes of the students change a lot because you know you’re not afraid to ask questions, you’re not afraid - none of the questions were stupid.

  17. Openness to Experience • There’s an openness and respect for the environment that comes when people feel respected. • An environment has to be set up as such where the players involved feel that their voice matters or that their voice is heard.

  18. Survey Development • All statements extracted from interviews sent to members of TLC. • Indicated whether or not to use statement • Two versions piloted to students (n=122) • Original statements reduced to 29 plus two qualitative questions • Used four-point scale to indicate level of agreement

  19. Survey Development • Questions were drawn from all six themes identified in the study • Grouped into 3 constructs • What is the instructor doing? • What’s going on in the classroom? • What am I doing?

  20. Survey Results • Sent to random sample of 1240 UG full-time students • Answered by 640 students (51.6%)

  21. Results • Highest mean ratings: • I am more willing to participate in class when I feel my instructor respects me • 97% agree/strongly agree • Mean of 3.6 on a 4-point scale • I am accountable for my learning • 98% agree/strongly agree • Mean of 3.42 on a 4-point scale

  22. Results • Differences by class status: • Highest means reported by seniors • Lowest means reported by juniors and freshmen • 28 of 29 questions saw means rise from freshman to sophomore, fall from sophomore to junior, and rise again from junior to senior.

  23. Results • Most frequent responses to question about relationships: • Relationships related to group work/partner work • Being known/acknowledged by their instructor

  24. Results • Most frequent responses to question about what happens in the classroom to influence engagement: • Teaching/learning styles • Class content • Interactions with instructor

  25. Uses of Study • Letter to all faculty via US Mail • Reports 6 themes • Suggests pedagogical strategies • “Teacher Story” sessions • Share results • Create sense of community • Student-centered Institutes--Summers 2005, 2006, 2007 • Course Projects designed

  26. Projects Developed • Group/project work, including on-line • Interactive lectures • Problem-based Learning • One faculty member converts in mid-semester • Leads to numerous presentations • PBL study group forms in 2006-7 • Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Projects based on relationships on-line

  27. Implications • What does engagement look like? • Does engagement cause learning?

  28. What does engagement look like? • Answer is not clear • External descriptors • Discussing, interacting • Internal descriptors • Respected, feeling changes, excited, safe, work to understand, accountable

  29. Does Engagement Cause Learning? • Answer is not clear • Pattern that emerges • Environment broadly defined as both physical and emotional and conceptual • Attitudes and desires • Willingness • Requires further study on willingness

  30. The Engagement Pattern Environment creates Attitude and Desires cause Desire and Willingness to Learn

  31. Engagement Comments • Having a teacher that respects their students and what they say, makes me want to learn/participate more. • If they show me how important it is to them, I begin to realized that passion also. It keeps me focused on what we are learning and makes me want to learn and understand more.

  32. Community of Practice • Easy to relate to Community of Practice theory • Elements of Community of Practice • Domain--the common ground that all members focus on • Community--interactions and relationships based on trust and respect • Practice--items that members are expected to know and be able to use (Wenger, et al) • It is via such communities that learning occurs. (Wenger)

  33. The Future • Continue to refine meaning of engagement • Continue to refine pedagogy of engagement • Investigate effect on retention • Investigate effect on [chosen aspect of] learning • Invite replications of our study

  34. References • Creswell, John W. Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Traditions. (1998). Thousand Oaks: Sage. • Knutson, Wendy S. Study of Student Engagement. (2006). Unpublished. • Moustakas, Clark. Phenomenological Research Methods. (1994). Thousand Oaks: Sage. • Wenger, Etienne, Richard McDermott, and William Snyder. Cultivating Communities of Practice. (2002). Boston: Harvard U. • Wenger, Etienne. Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. (1998). Cambridge U.

  35. For further information: • http://www.uwstout.edu/tlc/engagement.htm • knutsonw@uwstout.edu • riordand@uwstout.edu

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