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    Engaging learners effectively in the sciences : the pathway from secondary to university education : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Science at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2011) Hughes, Helen
    Considerable evidence exists of a world-wide trend of declining student numbers in school and university sciences. Much of the research evidence relating to student engagement in the Sciences has focused on school students, with very little focusing on university students, and even less on the transition and engagement of students from school to university science. This research seeks to understand how university students become or remain engaged in science during their transition from school to university. Data were collected using a mixed-methods design that included a questionnaire and focus groups. Participants consisted of first-year university students from the College of Science, alongside their lecturers and paper coordinators; plus secondary school students studying one or more sciences, alongside their teachers. Analysis of questionnaire data revealed five ‘teacher efficacy’ scales (Lecturer Qualities, Relevant Contexts, Scientific Method, Self-Directed Learning, and Maximising Technology) that correlated with three ‘student engagement’ scales (Commitment to Performance, Learning with Excitement, and Discovering Meaning). Thematic analysis of qualitative data supported these relationships between teacher efficacy and student engagement. Student engagement was most strongly influenced by lecturers’ qualities, along with the ability to place scientific knowledge into contexts that were relevant to the student. However, lecturers’ and teachers’ perceptions of their teaching qualities were significantly greater than those of their students and, conversely, students’ perceptions of their own engagement were significantly greater than those of their teachers/lecturers. The findings provide clear evidence that more widespread use of best practice pedagogies and provision of relevant contexts would promote student engagement in the Sciences at both secondary and tertiary education levels. In arriving at this conclusion, the present study explores some key questions: • Student engagement is not lost in transition; but are students engaged at all? • Teachers influence student engagement; but are teachers reaching their potential? • Teaching needs to be more engaging; but what does that involve? • Undergraduates want to become scientists, but must they wait until postgraduate studies?
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    Blending in: exploring blended approaches to student engagement
    (2011) Suddaby GT
    The paper reports on a research project in progress, premised on the literature review by Arbaugh, Godfrey, Johnson, Pollack, Niendorf & Wresch (2009) suggesting that beneficial 'blends' in the delivery of teaching and learning will become increasingly important, The project reported on in the paper identifies student learning strategies in blended environments and explores the pathways and strategies that enable teachers to incorporate thoughtful and focussed pedagogical planning and support to the enhancement of learner engagement and achievement through blended approaches to teaching and learning. In order to do this, the project team has identified a 'blended strategies' toolkit for facilitating student engagement through the incorporation of effective blended approaches to teaching and learning. The toolkit provides 'blended' mechanisms and identifies strategies for teachers to use when selecting approaches that best help students engage productively in learning. The toolkit includes strategies minimizing barriers to engagement, enhancing the quality of engaged experiences, and supporting the engagement/re-engagement of those who have either never engaged or have become disengaged. In addition to developing the toolkit, the research has involved its testing in courses, an iterative refining and review process, and the collection of evidence of the changing levels of student engagement and and re-engagement leading to more effective teaching and learning and the better realisation of student learning outcomes. These strategies, described in terms of teacher intention and student perception, reflect Bonk, Kim,& Zeng’s, (2009), aspiration that; “the promises (and hopefully, the benefits) of blended learning are extensive”. The research, incorporating quantitative and qualitative methods, goes beyond the one-cohort one-unit case study approach typical of much of the current literature in this field by focusing on a cohort of four classes and up to a thousand students in each of four New Zealand tertiary institutions incorporating a comprehensive, multi-method approach. The study, by identifying strategies enabling teachers to select the appropriate blended approaches to enhancing learner engagement and achievement for their contexts, facilitates the incorporation of these into the planning and teaching of subsequent course iterations and the implementation of the pedagogies that best help students become fully engaged in the learning process. While agreeing with Garrison and Kanuka’s (2004) view that; “At its simplest, blended learning is the thoughtful integration of classroom face-to-face learning experiences with on-line learning experiences”, the researchers recognise that this statement hides the complexity of the blended learning construct and the paper analyses and explores this perspective in moving towards a shared understanding of the term within the New Zealand (and international) tertiary context. The findings as will be reported clearly show that blended approaches to learning and teaching are more than just about the use of technology. They are complex, rapidly evolving and are strongly predicated on good pedagogy .
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    Pathways to engagement: a longitudinal study of the first-year student experience in the educational interface
    (Springer Nature Switzerland AG, 2/07/2019) Kahu ER; Picton C; Nelson K
    Student engagement is critical to success in the first year of university, yet evidence about how and why various factors influence engagement remains relatively rare. This study addresses this gap combining an existing framework of student engagement (Kahu and Nelson, Higher Education Research and Development, 37(1), 58–71, 2018) with student narratives to provide a detailed understanding of students’ engagement throughout their first year. Weekly semi-structured interviews with 19 first-year students at an Australian university illustrate how student and university factors interact to influence engagement, as conceptualised in the framework. The findings provide empirical support for the framework of student engagement, offering a more nuanced understanding of the student experience within the framework’s educational interface. The importance of self-efficacy, belonging, emotions and wellbeing as interwoven pathways to student engagement is demonstrated and the contextual and dynamic nature of engagement highlighted. Further work is necessary to understand how this knowledge can best facilitate student engagement and perhaps reduce cycles of disengagement.
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    Student engagement in the educational interface: Understanding the mechanisms of student success
    (Taylor & Francis (Routledge), 2017-07) Kahu ER; Nelson K
    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.