Redesigning formative assignment to increase student engagement bended learning environment

Abstract

In 2020 COVID-19 and continuous lockdowns rapidly increased tertiary educational organisations’ interest in online education and student engagement techniques that effectively work for both blended and online delivery modes. Organisations that used to rely heavily on face-to-face delivery started experimenting with activities in their learning management systems to adapt their education methodology to the new realities, and Otago Polytechnic Auckland International Campus was among them. The learning management system used by the organisation to engage with students online was Moodle, which made it the platform of choice for experiments in educational design. This pilot study examined the use of conditional access to formative activities set up in Moodle as a method of gamifying the course and increasing student engagement. The course selected was Leadership in Action, an elective undergraduate course in the Bachelor of Applied Management undertaken approximately halfway through their three-year programme. The number of activities and resources was significantly reduced and structured into weekly blocks and the students were required to complete the activities in one block to access the next one. Findings indicated that making access conditional on activity completion proves to be an effective technique for improving students’ participation. However, it runs the risk of increased anxiety levels in both the students and lecturers beyond the regular levels as the course progresses. The article discusses the pilot study from the perspectives of the Moodle administrator and the course lecturer to provide an implementation roadmap and a holistic reflection on the outcomes.