COLLEGE STUDENT ENGAGEMENT IN COURSEWORK: INVESTIGATING ASSESSMENT SCALING AND FEEDBACK UTILITY

Abstract

Student engagement is a multifaceted construct in the field of education. Despite the immense attention and financial investment given to student engagement and dropout prevention programs at colleges, attrition rates have not improved in over two decades (Caruth, 2018). In addition, there has been little research on providing feedback to college students on self-improvement strategies to increase their engagement in college. Information collected from this study evaluates the extent to which student classroom engagement, as measured by the modified Student Course Engagement Questionnaire (SCEQ-M) varies within subcategories of measured engagement and across different subgroups of students (i.e., variability by gender, year in college, diversity status, etc.). Findings from this research demonstrate that the newly generated factor structure from the SCEQ-M provides an accurate reflection of the URI population. The newly generated factors were also labeled with new factor names such as (1) in-class behaviors and activities, (2) emotions and related behaviors, (3) interpersonal relationships, and (4) out of class preparation. A unique aspect of this study was the provision of feedback to the students in the form of a guidance document about their own engagement, after completing the SCEQ-M. Students’ evaluation of this feedback suggested students found the guidance document reflected their behavior, was useful for the current course, and would be used in future courses as well. Additionally, this study provides a potential “road map” for how to assess and make use of student surveys to improve student engagement.