On strategies to improve student engagement

Abstract

After Bologna declaration, the change of roles between student and instructor in Spanish Higher Education has meant the search of new strategies to improve student engagement. In fact, they are trying to transform the previous extremely instructor-centred model to a learner-centred model. In this line, many courses of Higher Education have used new learning methods, such as problem-based learning, project-based learning or flipped classroom, during the last decade. Faculty also is able to count on new tools, for example, virtual classrooms. In this paper, we analyse the use of a virtual classroom in an elective course of the Degree in Mathematics at the University of the Basque Country to detect the assignments to improve student engagement and the impact on achievement of competences. We conclude that the inclusion of collaborative assignments in virtual classrooms increases their use and, hence, student engagement. Moreover, the acquisition of competences is also getting stronger, as the percentage of students that pass the course increases.