The Future of Education

Student engagement is often below average in courses that are cognitively demanding [1], such as statistics. When this content is delivered in digital learning formats, engagement sometimes drops further and academic procrastination threatens course completion [2]. Ways to address this include peer support [3], customizability through optional assignments [4], and high-quality feedback through process feedback [5].

With the aim of supporting student engagement and increasing knowledge acquisition, a study design with 8 different groups (with/without peer teaching, with/without optional additional tasks, with/without process feedback, and all possible combinations) was conceived and conducted in an online course (N = 268). The dependent variables were engagement (regular uploading of the total of 7 tasks), quality of the six application tasks (content assessment), and results in the final test (seventh task).

The main effects (MANOVA) were that engagement was higher in social learning situations (peer teaching) as well as in individualization (additional tasks) and that the quality of the application tasks was higher in groups with process feedback.

In addition to the main effects, there were the following interaction effects:

In groups with peer teaching, both individualization and process feedback caused the quality of submitted tasks to be higher, and in groups with process feedback, individualization caused the quality of submitted tasks to be higher. Final test scores were not affected by any of the independent variables.

Exploratory analyses revealed that students who used individualizability only sporadically and performed poorly on the final test already had less engagement during the semester. Students who had less engagement also scored lower on the test. The quality of the application assignments and engagement were together significant predictors of passing the course.

Keywords: Student Engagement, Procrastination, Science Education, Digital Teaching

[1] Whitney et al., (2019). The scale of student engagement in statistics: Development and initial validation. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 37(5), 553-565.

[2] Scheunemann et al.,(2022). A longitudinal analysis of the reciprocal relationship between academic procrastination, study satisfaction, and dropout intentions in higher education. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 37(4), 1141-1164.

[3] Jin, et al,. (2019). Peer attachment and academic procrastination in Chinese college students: a moderated mediation model of future time perspective and grit. Frontiers in psychology, 10, 2645.

[4] Liu, H. (2004). Choice and support: An individualized approach to student empowerment and involvement in combating procrastination in the Internet learning environment. Old Dominion University.

[5] Fritzsche et al., (2003). Individual differences in academic procrastination tendency and writing success. Personality and individual differences, 35(7), 1549-1557.