Engaging ICT Engineering Undergraduates in a Management Subject through First Day of Class Activities: An Empirical Study

Josep Petchamé,Xavi Canaleta,Ignasi Iriondo,Silvia Necchi,David Riu

doi:10.3390/su13137440

Abstract

The expectations, attitudes, engagement, and motivation of students are key elements when designing learning activities. Several studies have been implemented and different strategies and activities have been analyzed to improve the aforesaid aspects of learning content. In the context of the New Learning Context (NLC), this paper presents the findings of two first day of class activities aimed at engaging engineering students in a business and management subject from the very first moment: an empirical study conducted by means of a survey answered by engineering students in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), followed by an interactive activity between students and instructors carried out through a reciprocal interview activity. The survey was performed with the objective of identifying what they ‘liked’ and ‘disliked’ on their first day of class of a business subject. The findings are presented and compared with previous studies and have proven to be mostly consistent with previous academic work. Finally, a reciprocal interview activity was chosen to potentially enhance the students’ engagement and motivation. According to the feedback received, this activity was positively valued by the students.

Highlights

All first encounters that human beings have with someone or with something generate initial impressions or perceptions that tend to remain in their minds for some time
The research was focused on obtaining data that helped to adjust both the activities and the content of the first day of class in a management subject taught to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) engineering undergraduates
We present the findings obtained once students carried out two activities designed to improve their expectations, engagement, and motivation

Summary

Introduction

All first encounters that human beings have with someone or with something generate initial impressions or perceptions that tend to remain in their minds for some time. Just by looking at someone’s face, even for less than a second, people make judgments about that person [1,2,3], accuracy is not granted [4,5]. Short behavioral observations, from half a minute to five minutes, seem to be enough [6,7]. First impressions about people may be shaped by clothing [8], body language [9], and so on. Shaping first impressions applies even when thinking about products, such as website aesthetics [10]. First impressions can condition beliefs and behaviors [11]. The first day of class may have a multisided impact on students [12,13,14]

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Conclusion