When Student Confidence Clicks Academic Self-Efficacy and Learning in HE Fabio R. Aricò 1
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS UEA-HEFCE Widening Participation Teaching Fellowship HEA Teaching Development Grant Scheme 2
ETHICAL REMARK You will be presented with data collected during teaching sessions. Students involved have given informed consent for me to analyse their responses and present the results of this analysis. I can assist with ethical queries as well, please ask me. 3
OUTLINE 1. Introduction to Student Response Systems (SRS) 2. The role of Academic Self-Efficacy in Learning 3. Using SRS to increase Academic Self-Efficacy Other methods to increase Academic Self-Efficacy 4
1. Introduction to Student Response Systems (SRS) 5
6
Have you ever heard of or used clickers before? A. I used clickers before. B. I heard of clickers but I never used them. C. I never heard of clickers before. 0% 0% 0% A. B. C. 7
Choose the most accurate definition of inflation: A. Inflation is defined as the global increase in price levels. B. Inflation is defined as the rate of change of the price level. C. Inflation is defined as the difference between price levels in 2 consecutive years. 0% 0% 0% A. B. C. 8
If the bargaining power of trade unions increases A. Unemployment will increase. B. Unemployment will decrease. C. Unemployment will stay the same. 9
How confident do you feel about your answer? A. Very confident. B. Confident. C. Somewhat Confident. D. Not Confident. 0% 0% 0% 0% A. B. C. D. 10
Consult with each other for a few minutes and then we will try to re-poll the question. 11
If the bargaining power of trade unions increases A. Unemployment will increase. B. Unemployment will decrease. C. Unemployment will stay the same. 0% 0% 0% A. B. C. 12 10
ACTIVITY Assuming that time and resources were available, would you be keen on using SRS technology? Can you think about applications of SRS in your teaching practice? How would you use them? How frequently? In which teaching context (lecture/workshop ) Which questions would you ask? 13
2. The role of Academic Self-Efficacy in Learning 14
MOTIVATION Are my answers correct? I m so confused Yes, we checked them together already. Is this going to be in the exam? Are you sure? Yes, we spoke about it in class and practiced. But what if money supply contracts rather than increasing? You know how to do the reverse, you showed me. Relax. 15
MOTIVATION Typical problems analysed in recent pedagogic literature: Students may encounter difficulties with the course material support sessions, office hours, targeted support interventions. Students may display low levels of engagement revision of the curriculum, innovations in teaching, teaching technologies, partnership lecturer-students. 16
MOTIVATION Additional problem: Students may experience low confidence levels anxiety over preparation; peer-pressure and competition; inability to self-assess and detect problems. The recent changes in HE practice exacerbate this problem the student experience model targets support and satisfaction; students run the risk of being put at the heart of the system as passive receivers, rather than confident owners, of their learning. 17
REACTION Re-visit the concept of Academic Self-Efficacy: students confidence in their ability to accomplish specific academic tasks or attain specific academic goals (Bandura, 1997). Teach students how to become confident and independent learners help them to self-assess and diagnose problems; enable them to seek appropriate forms of support; increase the rate of retention of widening access students; enhance employability skills all along the academic journey. 18
REACTION in practice Develop a teaching protocol embedding Academic Self-Efficacy as an independent learning outcome, parallel to the curriculum. Stage 1: Investigation and assessment of student Self-Efficacy - experiment with Student Response Systems (clickers); - explore correlation between attainment and confidence. Stage 2: Extension of dataset (add student record data) Extension to qualitative analysis (e.g. focus groups and interview) Targeted intervention to increase Self-Efficacy levels. 19
ACTIVITY What is your opinion about the relevance of Academic Self-Efficacy in learning and teaching? Have you experienced issues in your teaching that can be related to lack of students confidence in their own abilities? Did you try to address this problem with the students? How? Can you share your experience? 20
3. Using SRS to increase Academic Self-Efficacy Other methods to increase Academic Self-Efficacy 21
TEACHING PROTOCOL the module Introductory Macroeconomics Level 1 compulsory year-long module -170 students Lectures Seminars Workshops traditional frontal-teaching (10 per sem.) small group, pre-assigned problem sets (4 per sem.) large group, problem-solving sessions (4 per sem.) Support Sessions non-compulsory drop-in sessions (4 per sem.) 22
TEACHING PROTOCOL clicker technology 23
TEACHING PROTOCOL the innovations Lectures Seminars Workshops interaction via clicker technology revision questions + understanding questions closing questions: was the lecture enjoyable? was the material difficult? Support Sessions online report of clicking session + feedback 24
TEACHING PROTOCOL the innovations Seminars Seminars Workshops Sessions preliminary Seminar Quizzes (paper-based) 3 revision/understanding questions 2 confidence/self-assessment questions open-answer comments Support Sessions online report of Seminar Quiz - solutions and overall performance - individual performance available - response to open-answer comments 25
TEACHING PROTOCOL the innovations Extra-Curricular Activities to promote engagement and Self-Efficacy Seminars Module Facebook Page + Blackboard pages - challenges to encourage further study - interaction and participation Seminars Voluntary in-lecture presentations(5 minutes) - to exploit demonstration effects Support Sessions Campus Vouchers (for engagement, notattainment) 26
TEACHING PROTOCOL the innovations Workshops Seminars peer-instructed flipped classroom approach standard algorithm: 1. Quiz questions + Confidence questions (no solution) 2. Peer-instruction learning 3. Quiz questions + solutions 4. Problem-set questions 4. Feedback questions: - what was the cause of mistakes/problems? - did you enjoy using clickers? - were clickers useful to your learning? Support Sessions online report of clicking session + feedback 27
TEACHING PROTOCOL the methodology Focus attainment, engagement, academic self-efficacy role of the SRS (clicker) technology Learning analytics rich dataset = clicker and paper-based responses Seminars matched demographics from student records uncover correlation patterns Qualitative data focus group and individual interviews Sessions feedback from students Support Sessions provide the narrative to interpret the analytics 28
An example using data from the 2012-13 cohort 29
EXAMPLE workshop structure 1. Set of quiz questions collect responses via clickers. Students can see the distribution of answers, but no solution given. 2. Ask students to rate their confidence in giving a correct answer (question by question) collect responses via clickers. 3. Allow for 20mins discussion on quiz questions. 4. Ask the same questions collect responses via clickers Provide a solution and a discussion to each question. 30
EXAMPLE dataset 2 workshop sessions: Week 5 and Week 9 Autumn Semester attainment number of correct responses per question/per student confidence How confident do you feel about the answer given to Question X? [4 levels] learning I feel that the clickers technology has contributed to my learning experience in today s workshop [4 levels] satisfaction I enjoyed using clickers in today s workshop [4 levels] Collapsed 4-level responses into dummy response [0,1]. 31
EXAMPLE dataset Student Q1 Q2 Q3 1 0 1 1 2 1 0 0 3 1 1 performance per question performance per student 32
EXAMPLE attainment by question Week 5 % correct responses 1 st round 2 nd round 33
EXAMPLE attainment by student Week 5 % correct responses 2 nd round % correct responses 1 st round 34
EXAMPLE student confidence by question Week 5 % 1 st correct responses % confident responses 35
EXAMPLE student confidence by student Week 5 % confident responses % correct responses 1 st round 36
EXAMPLE Comparing Week 5 to Week 9 initial preparation final learning outcome peer-instruction effect self-efficacy indicator problem set difficulty indicator student self-assessment skills 37
EXAMPLE Comparing Week 5 to Week 9 Week 5 Week 9 more of a learning/preparation problem than a confidence problem! 38
EXAMPLE Student perception of SRS Student satisfaction 91% 56% Student learning perception 88% 73% 39
SUMMARY Teaching protocol with interventions to assess/enhance Academic Self-Efficacy and self-assessment skills. Mixed-methods approach to disentangle the relationship between engagement, attainment, and academic self-efficacy using student demographics. Assessment on the role of SRS technology (clickers) in promoting ASE. (A research question not yet covered in related literature). 40
Tweet from a student: Time to play who wants to be a millionaire in my economics lecture #FunLearning. 41