Towards measures of longitudinal learning gain in UK higher education: the challenge of meaningful engagement

Speight, L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8700-157X, Crawford, K. and Haddelsey, S. (2018) Towards measures of longitudinal learning gain in UK higher education: the challenge of meaningful engagement. Higher Education Pedagogies, 3 (1). pp. 196-218. ISSN 2375-2696 doi: 10.1080/23752696.2018.1476827

Abstract/Summary

Learning gain is considered to be the distance travelled by students in terms of skills, competencies, content knowledge and personal development. This article discusses the administration experience and tests results from a first year cohort of 675 students at the University of Lincoln who undertook a self-assessment and standardised psychometric test as part of a project to develop measures of learning gain in UK higher education. The tests themselves are shown to be potentially suitable for this purpose however the biggest challenge was student participation and engagement. Various approaches to improve engagement were trialled. Whilst some of these approaches are shown to increase the number of responses, there is no evidence that they increase meaningful task engagement, leading to the conclusion that until this challenge is addressed the validity of learning gain data from bespoke tests is potentially questionable and the value of participation to students as individuals is limited.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/92893
Identification Number/DOI	10.1080/23752696.2018.1476827
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science > Department of Geography and Environmental Science
Publisher	Taylor & Francis
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