High Engagement by Teachers Leads to Higher Education Success of Children

Moneylife Digital Team 10 November 2023

Life

Researchers have found that less than one-third of teachers engage students in complex learning, limiting student opportunities for building critical thinking and problem-solving skills. They have observed that higher engagement from teachers can improve development ofskills that are crucial for success in higher education of children.

This new study was conducted in a partnership between researchers from Flinders University and Melbourne Graduate School of Education and published in the journal Teaching and Teacher Education.

Researchers filmed and assessed the content of classrooms across South Australia and Victoriaand found that nearly 70% of student tasks involved superficial learning—simple question and answers, taking notes or listening to teachers, rather than activities that engage students on a deeper level.

Dr Helen Stephenson, lead researcher from the University of South Australia (UniSA), said that teachers need more support to plan interactive and constructive lessons that promote deep learning.

“When we look at learning, the greater the engagement, the deeper the learning. But too often students are doing low-engagement, passive work. In our study, around 70% of classroom content was considered ‘passive’ (where students had little observable input) or ‘active’ where they may have been doing something simple, like answering questions on a fact sheet,” explained Dr Stephenson.

She further added, “Deep learning requires the organisation of knowledge into conceptual structures, which we know improves the retention of information and therefore improves learning outcomes. Deep learning also supports knowledge that’s needed for innovations. Small changes to teachers’ existing lesson plans and teaching can significantly increase student engagement and consequently their overall results.”

Explaining how existing models of teaching can be adapted or modified for higher level of interactivity and learning for students, Dr Stephenson said, “At a base level, teachers need to consider how they can adjust their existing classroom activities so that more tasks are on the deeper end of the learning scale. Take for example, watching a video. Students can silently watch a video (which is ‘passive’); write questions that arise for them while watching the video (which is ‘constructive’); or watch a video and discuss it with another student to age different ideas (which is ‘interactive’).”

Interactive engagement in classrooms is where students are involved in activities with other students that stimulate them to develop deeper understanding. They make judgements, propose and critique arguments or opinions, and work out solutions to problems. Dr Stephenson believes “these activities can also help them develop critical thinking and reasoning skills, all of which are predictors of improved learning.”

One of the main findings of the research was that many teachers seemed not to know or fully appreciate the importance of how their lesson tasks could stimulate different modes of student engagement.

“Even changing class activities from ‘active’ to ‘constructive’ can go a long way towards improving student learning. Teachers should be supported to undertake professional development to shift their thinking towards practices that support deeper learning and better outcomes for students,” Dr Stephenson suggests.

Comments

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chandraprabhavenkatagiri

5 months ago

Business education is on the cusp of a major change. Generative AI and Agentic AI have necessitated a massive change in the way classroom sessions are conducted in business schools. The age-old methods of using PowerPoint presentations to explain concepts and adhering to arcane pedagogical practices are no longer relevant. The smartphone has now become a necessary evil in educational institutions. Rather than repudiating this truth, it is better to accept it.

The teaching fraternity must upskill and reskill themselves to adapt to this reality. Students are smart enough to expect a return on investment in terms of gaining practical knowledge from a subject and getting dream jobs on completing the MBA program. In fact, the MBA program is seldom a two-year course as it is widely believed. Many of the autonomous institutes and private universities have their own schedules, and they complete the MBA program in 20 months. In some higher educational institutions, the pre-placement process begins right after the third semester, and students are allowed permission not to attend the fourth-semester classes. So, considering all these developments, student expectations from their alma mater are bound to be high.

Access to knowledge, information, and data is now easy thanks to all the AI tools. Way back in 2012, students used to copy content from Google, paste it into PowerPoint slides, and deliver their presentations in class. Today, students are adept at delivering presentations that are prepared in a jiffy using an AI tool. This is nothing to gloat about because it reflects the perils of students relying on readymade sources of information without investing time to read the topic or explore it in detail. One cannot completely blame the students. Smartphones and social media are addictive by nature.

Imagine students seated in a B-school classroom from morning 8 a.m. to evening 5 p.m. If all they have to do is sit in a class where one faculty member after another enters the classroom with their presentation slides, their attention span can be limited. In the case of courses that involve calculations like Production and Operations Management, Accounting and Financial Management, or Operations Research, the monotony can be disrupted through numerical problems and case studies. This is why even when there is a two-hour theory class at a stretch, one hour has to be devoted to discussing a newspaper article or a case study.

Teaching has to be replaced with words like learning and coaching. Students can also share their knowledge with teachers. B-school teachers with corporate experience have an added edge because they can share their work experience in the class and attempt to connect it with a particular concept. B-school classes must focus less on lecturing and more on storytelling. Going forward, delivering presentations using PowerPoint slides in class must not be used as the sole method to engage students. Asking students thought-provoking questions, encouraging healthy debate in the classrooms, and igniting the curiosity of students are equally important classroom delivery strategies. Greater is the interaction in the classroom, greater is the delivery quality. It is also a fallacy to assume that students should not make any running notes in the classroom at the postgraduate level. Writing, reading, and analyzing are skills that will stand the students in good stead, as they will enhance their cognition. Use of flow charts and mind-mapping tools is good enough to promote greater student engagement in the classroom.

In the U.S., corporates are setting up their own business schools so that these students can be directly absorbed for employment. One cannot preclude a similar scenario in India. Higher educational institutions must ensure that a student gets the right ROI on the efforts expended and the financial resources invested. Regular interactions with the corporate world to understand their expectations are critical to making appropriate pedagogical interventions. Existing courses must be updated with the latest trends and topics, while students must have access to learning new courses like Luxury Marketing, Managing Platform-Based Businesses, Digital Marketing for SMEs, FinTech, Strategic Management for Entrepreneurial Start-Ups, AI for Marketing, etc.