1

When Student Confidence Clicks

Academic Self-Efficacy

and Learning in HE

Fabio R. Aricò

WELCOME!

YOUR HOST

Fabio R AricòLecturer in MacroeconomicsSchool of EconomicsUniversity of East Anglia

2

EducationBSc Business and Economics, University of PaviaMSc Economics, University of WarwickPhD Economics, University of WarwickPGCert in Higher Education Practice

Work experienceUniversity of Pavia, Associate TutorUniversity of Warwick, Teaching FellowUniversity of St Andrews, Lecturer in Economics

Interests

Economics of Education

Higher Education Policy and Practice

- Student Satisfaction and NSS

- Widening Access Policies

- Learning Technologies

- Pluralism in Social Sciences

- Academic Self-Efficacy

PROGRAMME AT A GLANCE

Morning: Introduction to the Project 2hrsSelf-EfficacyUse of SRS within the Project

Noon: Assessment & Feedback 1hrPeer-learning and Self-reflection

After Lunch: Student-Teacher Dialogue 1hr

Afternoon: Discipline-specific Experiences 1hr(Mathematics, English Language, Placements)

3

TWEET AWAY!

4

@FabioArico

#ueahea14

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

Awareness: Self-Efficacy as a crucial success factorWise use of Learning Technologies

Disseminate: Offer teaching ideas – Share my experienceHEA mission and my commitment

Feedback: What do you think? Can this be improved?

Exchange: Create a ‘community of practice’

Partnership: Let’s work together!

5

6

When Student Confidence Clicks

Academic Self-Efficacy

and Learning in HE

Fabio R. Aricò

Self-Efficacy and

an Introduction to

the Project

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

UEA-HEFCE Widening Participation Teaching Fellowship

HEA – Teaching Development Grant Scheme (Individual)

7

Mentor and co-author: Dr Duncan WatsonSenior Research Associate: Dr Kathleen LaneResearch Associate: Chris ThomsonUG Research Assistants: Zainab Ahmed, Jack Kelehar

MOTIVATION

Are my answers correct? I’m so confused…

Is this going to be in the exam? Are you sure?

But what if money supply contracts rather than increasing?

Yes, we checked them together already.

Yes, we spoke about it in class and practiced.

You know how to do the reverse, you showed me. Relax.

8

MOTIVATION

Typical problems analysed in recent pedagogic literature:

• Students may encounter difficulties with the course material support sessions, office hours, targeted support interventions.

• Students may display low levels of engagement revision of the curriculum, innovations in teaching,

teaching technologies, partnership lecturer-students.

9

MOTIVATION

Additional problem:

• Students may experience low confidence levels anxiety over preparation; peer-pressure and competition; inability to self-assess and detect problems.

• The recent changes in HE practice exacerbate this problem the ‘student experience’ model targets support and satisfaction; students run the risk of being put ‘at the heart of the system’ as

passive receivers, rather than confident owners, of their learning.

10

REACTION

Re-visit the concept of Academic Self-Efficacy:

students’ confidence in their ability to accomplish specific academic tasks or attain specific academic goals (Bandura, 1997).

Teach students how to become confident and independent learners help them to self-assess and diagnose problems; enable them to seek appropriate forms of support; increase the rate of retention of widening access students; enhance employability skills all along the academic journey.

11

REACTION in practice

Develop a teaching protocol embedding Academic Self-Efficacy as an independent learning outcome, parallel to the curriculum.

Make use of SRS technology to:

- facilitate a dialogue with the students elicit self-efficacy

- gather feedback from students adjust teaching

- identify ‘risk-groups’ according to student characteristics adjust teaching

12

LITERATURE on ASE

• Reference names: Bandura, Pajares, Zimmerman, Ritchie

• Academic Self-Efficacy in theory:- Specificity & Correspondence relate to a task and criteria- Other expectancy constructs overlap with: confidence,

competence, difficulty, ability, self-concept, self-perception.

• Academic Self-Efficacy in practice:- Difficult to operationalise how to disentangle constructs?- Related literatures self-assessment, self-regulation,

perceptions- Ways to measure ASE student questionnaires

13

LITERATURE on SRS

• Reference names: Mazur, Mollborn, Galloway, Hounsell

• Core ideas:

- Clickers increase student engagement and student satisfaction.There is mixed evidence on the impact of SRS on attainment.

- There are very few contributions on the impact of SRS onstudent confidence and self-assessment skills.

- SRS (especially clickers) are not a cutting-edge technologybut some of their potential remains unexploited: technology for the sake of it? (Nielsen et. al., RLT, 2013) which questions should we ask to our students? what to do with the data that we collect?

14

The BIG IDEA

• Need: Enhance student ASE

• Problems: How can we measure ASE far away from the classroom?(Is there an alternative to ASE questionnaires?)

How can we respond to findings?How can we do it promptly?How can we address large classrooms (different needs)?

• Solutions: Exploit the potential of SRS technologyProduce meaningful learning analyticsUse the results to provide feedback and inform practice.

15

According to my experience/practice, I believe that issues related with student confidence and self-efficacy significantly affect the student experience (attainment/engagement/satisfaction/wellbeing)

A. Strongly agree

B. Agree

C. No firm opinion

D. Disagree

E. Strongly disagree

16

Stro

ngly agree

Agree

No firm

opin

ion

Disagre

e

Stro

ngly disa

gree

3%

27%

20%

27%

23%

In your opinion/experience, which of the following dimensions is the most affected by students’ academic self-efficacy beliefs?

A. Attainment

B. Engagement

C. Satisfaction

D. Well-being

E. Other (or none in particular)

17

Attain

ment

Engage

ment

Satis

fact

ion

Well-

being

Other (

or none in

parti

cula

r)

17%

30%33%

17%

3%

In which of the following academic situations high ASE beliefs can really make the difference in your experience/opinion?

A. Attending a lecture

B. Participating to a practice seminar/workshop

C. Completing an assignment Studying independently

D. Sitting for an exam

E. Seeking academic support (within school or support units)

18

Attendin

g a lect

ure

Particip

atin

g to a p

ract

ic...

Comple

ting a

n assign

men...

Sittin

g for a

n exa

m

Seekin

g aca

demic

suppor..

.

20%

30%

10%

40%

0%