Understanding and Developing Student Engagement

Colin Bryson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780415843393
• eBook ISBN: 9781317802303
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Enhancing the student experience, and in particular student engagement, has become a primary focus of Higher Education. It is in particularly sharp focus as Higher Education moves forward into the uncertain world of high student fees and a developed Higher Education market. Student engagement is a hot topic, in considering how to offer 'value' and a better student experience. Moreover it is receiving much attention all over the world and underpins so many other priorities such as retention, widening participation and improving student learning generally.

Understanding and Developing Student Engagement draws from a range of contributors in a wide variety of roles in Higher Education and all contributors are actively involved in the Researching, Advancing and Inspiring Student Engagement (RAISE) Network.

While utilising detailed case examples from UK universities, the authors also provide a critical review and distillation of the differing paradigms of Student Engagement in America, Australasia, South Africa and Europe, drawing upon key research studies and concepts from a variety of contexts.

This book uncovers the multi-dimensional nature of student engagement, utilising case examples from both student and staff perspectives, and provides conceptual clarity and strong evidence about this rather elusive notion. It provides a firm foundation from which to discuss practices and policies that might best serve to foster engagement.

Part I

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Students engaging

Perspectives from researchers

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Chapter 2

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Nottingham tales

Diverse student journeys through their undergraduate degrees

Colin Bryson and Christine Hardy

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This chapter is based on a four-year study at a large UK university which followed students across a range of subjects through their whole degrees. Exploring their stories and perspectives at particular points in that journey offers insights into the complex pattern of issues across their complete university experience which mediated their engagement. The journeys that these individuals undertook were unique and diverse: some were a roller coaster ride, others had a smoother path, while for others still, the journey was not completed. We deliberately adopt an empirical approach to presenting the evidence, allowing the reader to interpret the students’ own words. We have structured their stories in a chronological order through the path of their degrees but will seek to bring out the major themes identified in the preceding chapter of this volume. Although we would prefer to tell each individual story to maintain coherence, uniqueness and uncover a richer picture, space constraints require succinctness. Therefore, in the main, cross-sectional data is presented, focusing on commonalities and differences between individuals (Hockings et al., 2007).

We shall explore what expectations and aspirations the students brought with them, their personal projects (Dubet, 1994). There were powerful mediating factors which ebbed and flowed over the course of their journey, affecting some students to greater or lesser degrees depending on their context, perspective and agency. Primary among these were social and emotional issues and the salience of their social networks in supporting them through critical points when their engagement was in doubt. So the next focus is on early transitions, social and academic integration in the first year (Tinto, 1987). We shall examine the territory of settling in, building relationships and a sense of belonging. The alienating forces they identified will be compared with mitigating factors, which should illuminate if such barriers could be overcome. The second and third years were rather problematic for some students, and we shall note why this was so. The final section will overview the sense of becoming (Fromm, 1978), and their developing sense of being: becoming a professional, learning the discipline (Solomonides et al., 2012a) and becoming a graduate. We shall conclude by looking for evidence of transformation and identifying specific catalysts in that process.

The study

Investigations of student engagement often use questionnaires to identify relationships between student behaviour and outcomes, which assume that all students and institutions are homogenous, that student engagement is a fixed paradigm that can be quantified, and that all respondents have the same understanding of the questions asked. But based on our own research, and other studies, it would appear that student engagement is complex and holistic, requiring a different approach.

A qualitative approach addresses this by securing rich descriptions of student engagement, provided in naturalistic settings. We stress the socially constructed nature of reality, the intimate relationship between us and the students and situational constraints that shape the enquiry by seeking ‘to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them’ (Denzin and Lincoln, 2005: 3). We ‘mine the terrain’ (McCracken, 1988: 17), recognizing that ‘there are no universal truths to be discovered, and that all knowledge is grounded in human society, situated, partial, local, temporal and historically specific’ (Coffey, 1999: 11). Therefore, the paradigm for this study is one of constructivism, with relativist ontology, subjectivist epistemology and a naturalistic set of methodological procedures (Denzin and Lincoln, 1994: 12). Our goal was to understand the complex world of lived experience from the point of view of the students who live it, ‘that is, particular actors, in particular places, at particular times, [who] fashion meaning out of events and phenomena through prolonged complex processes of social interaction involving history, language and action’ (Schwandt, 1994: 125).

We used in-depth interviews taking a phenomenological approach for collecting data. This method encouraged ‘the respondent to tell his or her own story in his or her own terms’ (McCracken, 1988: 22) over three/four years and several discussions. All the research was conducted in Nottingham Trent University, a large post-1992 institution in England, and ethical approval was gained from the ethics committee; all interviewees were given oral and written information about the project and signed a consent form. The interview guides were built around themes (Table 2.1 indicates these), ‘allowing what was relevant to emerge’ (Strauss and Corbin, 1990: 23). This inductive approach meant theories about student engagement could evolve during the research through the continuous interplay between data analysis/interpretation and data collection.

All interviews were carried out on university premises, lasting between one and two hours and were taped and transcribed. For this chapter narrative and paradigmatic analyses have been used. The paradigmatic analysis to ‘locate common themes or conceptual manifestations among the stories collected as data […] to generate general knowledge from a set of particular instances’ (Polkinghorne, 1995: 13) was done by drawing together the findings of previous work, determining if they were applicable to this sample and also to postulate new categories. The narrative analysis is specifically directed to understanding human behaviour and is focused on ‘the particular and special circumstances of each action’ (Polkinghorne, 1995: 11) and has been written as mini case studies.

Table 2.1 Timetable and subject matter of interviews taken with students

Date	Areas for focus	Notes
Sept 2007 (pre-teaching week)	Their background, why they entered higher education and choose this university and course, their aspirations, their expectations about all aspects of university life. Also had a focus on intellectual development to establish a ‘starting position’ on ways of knowing (Baxter Magolda, 1992)	24 students were interviewed
Jan 2008 (first week after Christmas)	Their experience thus far and on transition	Coincided with a time that previous research has identified as important in student withdrawal decisions (Ozga and Suhanandan, 1997) One student declined to take further part in the study
May 2009	Developed our previous themes further and sought to review the first year both in terms of how they were doing and how they had changed	Four students chose not to participate
March/April 2010	Focused on social and academic transition, for both the first and second year, including how they had changed and ways of knowing	14 students were interviewed (two dropped out of the study and three withdrew from university after the first year)
March/April 2011/2012	The themes remained the same as in the second year, with the addition of an oral self-characterisation, ‘… to see how the [student] structures a world in relation to which he must maintain himself in some kind of role’ (Kelly, 1991: 243) In 2012 with those students who did a placement, there was also a discusssion about their placement experiences.	Seven students were interviewed in 2011 and four (placement students) in 2012 (one had withdrawn in 2010)
June 2011	A focus group to review the whole degree including achievement of goals and professional and the future	Only three students from Fine Art attended, their work was also reviewed and discussed

Although there are many advantages to these types of interviews, we recognized and sought to minimise the limitations. It took an investment of both time and ‘self’ to be a respondent in our study and we lost some individuals along the way. We do not claim the ‘sample’ is representative, or generalizable. The relationships we developed with the students influenced the research process as ‘we bring to a setting disciplinary knowledge and theoretical frameworks. We also bring a self which is, among other things, gendered, sexual, occupational, generational — located in time and space’ (Coffey, 1999: 158). This gave us a ‘privileged’ position so we were careful to build relationships, based on ‘trust, truth telling, fairness, respect, commitment and justice” (Hatch and Wisniewski, 1995: 119). Of course, this did run the risk of over-identification (Coffey, 1999) and we found some students ‘over disclosed’ leading to ethical problems regarding how much we should put into the public arena. We were also particularly cognizant of the need to be sensitive and non-judgemental when students were remembering events that were uncomfortable for them and were aware of individual variation regarding why certain things are remembered and how the memories are presented (Davies, 1999: 169). Due to these limitations, there can never be any absolute certainty about any event or fact, and no single source or combination of them can give a picture of the total complexity of the reality as the evidence is always fragmentary (Yow, 1994: 22), but this did not present an insurmountable hurdle as the data was triangulated by seeking out similarities and differences within all the data collected.

Two ethical issues were of particular concern to us in this study: privacy and representation. All respondents were assured of anonymity with pseudonyms, every care being taken to ensure that they could not be individually identified. Participant representation in writing, for an academic audience, was of concern to us as we wanted to have their ‘voice’ heard, the ‘essential phenomenological essence of what is being said’ (Goodall, 2000: 139), therefore we made some editorial decisions based on a desire to protect their dignity and a sense that if they do read their own words they will read a representation that is true to their original meaning.

Findings

We lost some of the students along the way. Several opted out and declined to do another interview and three withdrew from their courses before completion. Table 2.2 shows the students for whom we were able to follow their complete journey through their degree, and three who did not complete their studies.

It should be noted that entry into the Applied Business degree was very competitive. The degree involves the first year being taken on campus with the second and third years being an industrial placement interspersed with study blocks. The students were sponsored by companies, with fees paid, and salaried while on placement. The General Business degree and Fashion Textiles Management involve undertaking a one-year work placement in the third year for most students.

Beginnings and initial personal projects

Most of the students entered Higher Education because they believed a degree is required to offer them the sort of job and career opportunities they sought. Frances had decided on a degree because ‘you needed a degree’ to work for good companies. For Kelly too, a degree was important for advancement. She had a clearly identified goal of becoming a fashion buyer:

[…] but for us in Korea [we need a] higher qualification if we want a higher position […] especially for women, so you need a strong degree or work experience in a foreign country, so I chose this degree.

Table 2.2 The students, their subjects and university status

Student	Start Age	Course	English Status
John	18	English	Graduated
Keith	18	History	Graduated
Ella	18	Applied Business	Graduated
Frances	19	General Business	Graduated
Kevin	18	General Business	Graduated
Martin	18	General Business	Withdrew after second year
Jack	18	General Business	Graduated
Terry	25	General Business	Withdrew after first year
Nathan	19	Fine Art	Graduated
Ryan	32	Fine Art	Graduated
Natalie	23	Fine Art	Graduated
Kelly	23	Fashion Textiles Management	Withdrew after first year
Chloe	19	Fashion Textiles Management	Graduated
Octavia	19	Fashion Textiles Management	Graduated

They all aspired to a ‘good’ degree, a minimum of a ‘2.1’. Martin was confident of a ‘first’. Some students saw this degree as a step toward a ‘necessary masters’:

I would like to further my education after my degree because you know how I said before how everyone sees a degree as the norm now […] but I want to be a step further than that.

(Kevin)

Several students had particular career/job expectations. For example, Martin wanted to be a stockbroker at Morgan Stanley, emulating relatives who he admired and saw as role models. Students on placement degrees indicated that the placement would improve their job prospects and some had already thought about where they would like their placement to be. Kevin and Martin in particular wanted to secure their own placements, get that sorted out early, and if possible work abroad.

Four had chosen teaching as their career and their degree reflected their personal interests and/or subject strengths. John had some work experience at his school, shadowing teachers which inspired him to want to teach. He had known that he wanted to teach since he was 14 years old.

[…] one of my English teachers […] communicated in a way that everyone got along with and I think it’s great for someone to be able to teach and make it fun and get results from it […] it’s vital for people to understand but enjoy a subject as well.

The remaining students, although they knew the area that they wanted to work in, were not specific about the role/job they wished to undertake and had chosen their degree with a view to maintaining flexibility. Frances expressed this view, ‘because I don’t want my, like, options shut’.

However, going to university was not all about employability. Some thought that it was the next natural step and that they were not yet ready to work.

I have always thought that everyone goes to university […] and I wanted to keep learning, I did not want to go straight to work. I do not feel that I am ready for it yet.

(Chloe)

A major factor in the decision to attend this university was based on geography: it was close enough for the students to go home at the weekends but far enough away to live an independent life (although this did not apply to the international student).

There was a general vagueness about what university teaching and learning involved. Expectations about lectures and other classes seemed to be based on stereotypical conjecture rather than anything firmer. They all intended to work hard and do whatever it took to do well. They were equally vague about t...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• The Staff and Educational Development Series
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List Illustrations
• Notes on contributors
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Front chapter
• 1 Clarifying the concept of student engagement
• Part I Students engaging: perspectives from researchers
• Part II Students engaging: perspectives from students
• Part III Engaging students
• Bibliography
• Index