Empirical evidence of faculty and institutional factors that affect student performance

Abstract

This paper investigates trends in higher education for their impact on student performance. Studies focusing on these areas have received much attention in the literature. As homework management systems have become popular, they have been scrutinised, with mixed results. Active learning strategies have consistently reported positive outcomes. Concurrently, institutions have been utilising contingent instructors more often, primarily for budgetary reasons. This shift in staffing has influenced the level of education and years of teaching experience of instructors, which has altered the tenure status of professors. This study explores these topics for their impact on student performance using assessment data. The findings indicate that the use of homework management systems had a statistically significant negative relationship, while active learning strategies revealed a statistically positive impact. Also, instructor level of education was insignificant, while the years of teaching experience was significant, but negative. Finally, tenure status was positively significant on student performance.