Demystifying contemporary learner engagement: CQUniversity Engineering

CONTEXT: CQUniversity, School of Engineering and Technology in particular, has been an early adopter of novel technology-mediated learning and teaching practices. However, the learner engagement for CQUniversity engineering courses still heavily relies on classroom attendance and accessing unit resources through Moodle. Engineering classes at each campus are facilitated by a combination of local facilitators as well as the unit coordinator/lecturer via ISL or zoom connections. Despite the availability of a variety of opportunities for interaction with teaching staff in these classes, student attendance in engineering classes (lectures, tutorials, laboratories) in recent years has shown a rapid decline. Furthermore, engineering staff have monitored Moodle statistics and noted a per capita decline in access of learning resources, including participation in forums and viewing of videos, which supports the notion that learner engagement practices are changing and new approaches are necessary to accurately measure and monitor student engagement. PURPOSE: Objective of the paper is to present a multi-faceted model to characterise contemporary learner engagement practices of CQUniversity BEng students and study how the student engagement affect students’ academic outcomes. APPROACH: This paper uses a mixed method approach focusing primarily on surveying three different student cohorts. The surveys will consist of Likert response questions as well as short answer free text responses. These survey responses are then correlated with student success in the relevant unit. Furthermore, student Moodle data usage, video view/download data and other methods of measuring learner engagement such as contribution to group work and use of publically available online resources will be collected. Survey questions are designed to determine which learner engagement modes students perceive as being useful, the reasons for using particular engagement strategies and also the way that they approach their learning. Data will be analysed for correlation between student approaches to their study, the resources they access and how they access them, and their success in the unit. Differences between study approaches for the cohorts will also be investigated. RESULTS : This paper will present a multi-faceted model to characterise contemporary learner engagement practices in CQUniversity BEng students. Furthermore, we will identify particular engagement behaviours which lead to higher student success. CONCLUSIONS : Despite the prevalence of technology mediated learning and teaching approaches in the current higher education environment, class attendance and accessing information on learning management systems are still used as primary learner engagement practices. The engagement model presented in the paper will better characterise contemporary learner engagement and identify particular engagement behaviour that leads to higher academic outcomes for students.