Engagement in a team-based module in a post-92 university: Impact on academic performance

Introduction: The University of South Wales (USW) is situated in the South Wales Valleys, with 29% of the student population coming from the most deprived areas of Wales. Many of the student population are individuals who may have had to drop out of education to become a parent or carer, and therefore do not have traditional academic qualifications, but rather science-focussed Access to Higher Education Diplomas. USW is dedicated to delivering a social mobility platform for all students, and our Biomedical degrees undertake a 40-credit team, and case-based Level 5 module, covering anatomy, physiology and pharmacology. The module ethos is that problems are framed within authentic, real-world scenarios, and that every student has previously been exposed to a core of standardised information, as well as encouraging students and facilitators to share responsibility for achieving learning objectives (Slavin et al., 1995). Teamwork is a learnt skill that is essential to modern STEM (Salas, 2016), but there have been consistent barriers to students undertaking teamwork in higher education (Goldsmith et al., 2024). Furthermore, issues with teamwork have a cognate with engagement i.e., lack of participation, lack of preparation, negative feelings and/or poor team relations (Donelan & Kear, 2024). Therefore, we sought to identify student perceptions on engagement and examine whether they have a relationship with overall student attainment in the module.

Methodology: A five-point Likert questionnaire adapted from the Student Engagement in Schools Questionnaire (SESQ), was sent to all students who were enrolled on the 23-24 module (n=33). Data were then collated, and responses logged from 1 to 5 for statistical analysis, while responses for each question were calculated as a percentage and anonymously correlated against module outcome. Weighted average (〖x̄〗_w) was calculated (Fall & Surendran, 2023) and a mean percentage score of responses >〖x̄〗_w was then set as a threshold for a positive response to the question. Repeated themes were explored in a focus group of respondents.

Results: There was a 64% response rate to the questionnaire with full results presented in table 1. Affective Engagement: Liking for Learning returned a 100% positive response, as did Behavioural Engagement: Effort and Persistence. However, Behavioural Engagement: Extra Curricular, and Cognitive Engagement returned mixed results. There was a 0.5 Pearson Correlation Coefficient between final grade and response to “Behavioural engagement - Effort and Persistence (When I’m in class, I participate in class activities.” Thematic analysis showed an increase in perception of participation in in-class activities and increased independence, and confidence in learning throughout the module.

Conclusion: While strong positive responses were observed for intrinsic liking for learning and motivation, areas of cognitive engagement and extra-curricular involvement require further exploration. A moderate correlation between effort, persistence and final module grades suggests that fostering a consistent work ethic is crucial for student success. These findings and the thematic analysis highlight the importance of creating a supportive learning environment that encourages active participation, fosters a sense of community to enhance overall student engagement and academic achievement, which have valuable implications for improving teaching and learning practices.