Using Online Activities to Increase Student Engagement and Improve Results

Barbara Stokes | EIT, Hawke’s Bay Lecturer, School of Business | bstokes@eit.ac.nz

Using Online Activities to Increase Student Engagement and Improve Results

The disruption to classroom teaching as a consequence of the unprecedented global COVID-19 pandemic has turned a spotlight on online teaching and learning. Faced with a sudden switch to virtual teaching educators were challenged to engage and motivate learners, especially those with a preference for classroom interaction, in an online environment.

The results of an exploratory study of the impact on student experience of online summative assessments in a hybrid-online introductory marketing courseprovides valuable insights for the development of online course assessments.

Student retention and successful course completions are a key concern for educators and improving these key performance indicators was the driver to innovating teaching and assessment practice. Guided by the OTARA (Objectives, Themes, Activities, Resources, Assessment) e-learning design framework, online summative assessment tasks were introduced to stimulate and maintain student engagement with learning. Flexible, accessible andrelevant real world applied tasks were designed to promote student involvement, participation and collaborative learning opportunities. These aspects are considered instrumental to improving course outcomes.

The exploratory study comprised of a quantitative quasi-experimental design and student perception survey. The impact on actual student performance was examined by extracting before-after course results data from EIT’s Aplus results system. To more strongly establish that cause-effect relationship an anonymous online questionnaire was implemented on SurveyMonkey. One hundred and thirty-seven students, a thirty-six percent response rate, participated in the online survey. Perceived learning was evaluated through quantitative rating questions, using a Likert-scale, with open-ended questions aimed to gain key student insights into their perception of the impact on their learning and motivation. The study data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

Feedback from students indicated that the online assessment played a significant role in enhancing their learning experience, with a perceived a beneficial impact on their engagement and motivation. The analysis of course results data confirmed, with statistical significance, that course completions and success rates were improved. By implementing the new assessment, the number of students "not completed” and “withdrawn” were significantly decreased. Further the data also suggested a shift from would be ‘C’ grade students to ‘B’ students, though this is less statistically robust.

This study provides valuable insights into the positive impact online assessment tools can have on student engagement, perceived and actual learning. The findings invite discussion in regards to the integration of online technology to meet the challenges of a changing educational environment.