AN EVALUATION OF IN-CLASS STUDENT INVOLVEMENT Experiential Learning Enters the Eighties, Volume 7, 1980 151 AN EVALUATION OF IN-CLASS STUDENT INVOLVEMENT Richard D. Arthur, Jr. Judson College ABSTRACT This paper is an empirical study to examine the Hypothesis that student involvement, even to a limited ex- in tradition bound “lecture courses, will increase learning. The concept under consideration is measuring the value of student involvement. The purpose is to generate data based on our observations. INTRODUCTION Far some time now it has been the accepted belief that the participative process of learning is an extremely valuable method to increase the understanding and retention of conceptually oriented material. This process is commonly referred to as experiential learning. However, the extent to which participation must take place in order to be considered experiential is still open to question. Experiential learning has been defined many ways. One is Hover and Whitehead’s: Experiential learning exists when a personally responsible participant cognitively, effectively, and behaviorally processes knowledge, skills, and/or attitudes in a learning situation characterized by a high level of active involvement.* Therefore, in the vernacular, experiential learning would be to learn by doing; so this is to say that if a person is obtaining knowledge from a participative exercise then he is experiencing experiential learning. When one attempts to validate that an individual or group has acquired additional knowledge from strictly the participative process with hard data one begins to run into obstacles. As A.J. Faria and R. 0. Nulsen point out, in the introduction to “Game Administration A Life Cycle Analysis;” “Most authors can not reach valid conclusions as to the relative merits of simulation.. . the results are highly inconclusive. In order to attempt to overcome this experiential data void, it was decided that one might use a “before” and after” process in an attempt to measure learning. The course of study used in the exploring of the hypo- thesis was basic economics (Macro), traditionally considered a “lecture” course, due, for the most part to the type and amount of material covered. One of the main reasons for picking this course other than its ‘lecture” image is that the author had plenty of “before” data from which to draw. The specific before and after approach that has been used was to compare the average test scores, made on more or less standardized exams, from economic classes which were primarily lecture courses to those classes which used student involvement as a part of the in-class learning process. We will define our measure of learning as being the percent difference between the scores. THE APPROACH It is felt that one of the keys to successful learning is feedback and what this study did was to utilize the advantages of experience as a teacher and allow the student to discover, while still in class, whether or not he or she had truly acquired and could therefore properly apply any new knowledge gained from material just covered. In order to do this, the instructor prepared a series of multiple choice questions for each chapter that was to be covered during the course of study (approximately ten per chapter) The students were to, prior to class and using their text material if they so desired, individually pick the best or most complete answers for each of the questions. Once in class the students were divided into groups of approximately six per group (they kept the same groups throughout the course) and were instructed to discuss each question and arrive at a single best answer for the group. No text material was allowed to be used during the group discussion. After a set amount of time, usually 20-30 minutes depending on the material being discussed, each group submitted a group answer sheet, and then the questions were reviewed by the entire class, and the “correct” answers given. The instructor would then spend the remainder of the two hour class period lecturing on the subject matter and attempting to explain the problem areas exposed by the questions. In addition to the above questions they also used application problems covering the particular subject areas for the groups to solve, once again under a time limit. Here also, they worked on the problems individually outside of class. All in all the students were encouraged to prepare ahead of time, present their ideas or thoughts to their group, and then receive in-class feedback on the correctness of their responses. As specific breaks in the instruction, individual examinations were administered. All of the exams were of a general type, similar to those that had been given over the same instructional areas in the past; however, the final exams, which were comprehensive, were identical from course to course. This allowed for specific comparison of final learning between classes. THE QUESTION In order to use a feedback approach a great deal of effort and the utilization of a large amount of class time is required. So the question arises as to whether or not the amount of learning involved is really worth all the time and effort. In other words, how much “knowledge” is student involvement worth, can it be measured? Experiential Learning Enters the Eighties, Volume 7, 1980 152 THE RESULTS As stated above, the means of comparison was a final exam composed of multiple choice questions distributed from easy to difficult so that theoretically, the students who learned the most would get the greatest number of questions correct and the students who learned the least, the fewest questions. Since this test has been used, it has given the following results: % of Questions Class Size Correct - Class Number of Average Students Spring 78 49.82 22 Summer 78 47.50 16 Fall 78 48.75 61 Winter 78 50.65 36 Spring 79 46.52 31 Summer 79 61.59 29 In-class Fall 79 58.25 40 student involvement started The mean of the five exams prior to the summer of 79 was 48.648%; the standard deviation was 1.599. In computing the 99% confidence interval for the mean of these five exams, the upper boundary would be 51.942% of the questions correct. Both the summer and Fall of 79 scores fall outside this Interval therefore indicating a significant change in the average test scores since the inclusion of student involvement. If the test scores are used as a reflection of learning, the change from 48.648% to 59.92% (the average of Summer and Fall of 79) shows a 23.17% increase in learning: (59.92 - 48.65)/48.65 = 23.17. THE CONCLUSION This version of student involvement seems to lead to approximately a 20% increase in student comprehension. As to the relevance of this method In a subject area other than economics, it is felt by this author that definite parallels can be drawn and that further research will lead to similar results. REFERENCES (1) Faria, A.J. and R. D. Nulsen, “Game Administration: A Life Cycle Analysis,” Insights into Experiential Pedagogy, Bureau of Business and Economic Research, College of Business Administration, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, 1979, p. 220. (2) Hoover, J. Duane and Carlton J. Whitehead, “An Experiential-Cognitive Methodology in the First Course in Management: Some Preliminary Results,” Simulation Games and Experiential Learning in Action, Bureau of Business Research, The University of Texas at Austin; Austin, Texas, 1976, p. 25. Table of Contents Volume 7, 1980 Symbol Recognition and Correlation for Evaluating Decision Making in Computer Aided Business Simulations Polanal: An Experiential Approach to Decision Support The Use of Time Contracts in Formal Education Indexing Simulation Model Response for Gaming Flexibility Moving Toward A Theory of the Use of Simulation Games and Experiential Exercises Use of Simulation Administration to Achieve Pedagogical Objectives Experiential Learning on the Job - A Business Internship Program Toward the Ultimate Experiential Exercise A Learning Through Managing Program Workshop Using Experiential Materials in Industry Training Sponsored Experiential Learning - An Opportunity Problems and Pitfalls of Externally Sponsored Field Research Projects Viewed form an Experiential Learning Perspective A Modular Approach to Experiential Learning: Classroom & Consulting Using Simulation & Experiential Learning In Industrial Settings Terminations: An Experiential Review Agenda Items -- Board of Supervisors' Meeting - Town of Jori The Objective-Setting Interview in MBO: An Experiential Approach The All-Star World Series Team Exercise: an Experiential Learning Exercise Dealing with Various Organizational Behavior Issues Progress Report on global, A Rich Multinational Gaming Environment Computer Simulation: A Tool to Teach Queuing Theory New Technology for Business Games Technological Frontiers in Computer Simulations for Business Education Simulating the Product Life Cycle on Interactive Terminals On Compensatory Demand Functions in Marketing Simulations The Use of Games at Different Levels in a Single Marketing Course to Increase Game Participation Sun Airlines: A Heterogeneous Consumer demand exercise Incorporating a Group Selection Test An Organization Development Approach to Teaching Organization Behavior CBID: Cognitive, Behavioral, and Interpersonal Development - A Skill Development/Social Learning Approach to Management Development Using a Live Case Via Video Tape A Town and gown Approach Development of Student Generated Cases Using Computerized Text Editing and Database Technology Interdisciplinary Approached to Problems in Utilizing Experiential Techniques To Use or Not To Use Experiential Techniques, That's is the Question Forming Participant Teams in Simulation Gaming The Problems of Motivating Students and Clients in Live-Case Projects Problems of Teaching Leadership Skills Through Experiential Techniques Conflict Style Measurement: Antecedent to Change - A Proposal for an Experiential Exercise Demonstration Fundamentals of Simulation for Newcomers An M.B.A. Orientation Simulation for Managing Time and the Areas of One's Life SimNet Workshop: The International Simulation Network Demonstrates Three New Business Games The Use of a Simulation Model in the Planning and Evaluation of Commercial Bank Operations Probability Assessment and Performance in Business Game Simulations WageSim: A Wage and Salary Administration Simulation Grading as a Teaching and Feedback Mechanism: Modifying Student's Self-Perceptions of Performance Can Business Games Effectively Teach Business Concepts? Development of Multiple Value Orientations in Conflict Resolution Behavior: An Experiential Teaching Paradigm in Labor-Management Relations Course Designing a Competency-Based Peer Assessment Scale for the Evaluation fo Teaching in Higher Education A Method for Evaluating Information for the Equipment Replacement Decision: An Application of Monte Carlo Simulation Simulation: A Method of Appraising Communication Networks in Managerial Decision Making An Evaluation of In-Class Student Involvement Evaluation of the SBI Program from an Experiential Viewpoint: Focus on the Student Differential Predictors of Academic Performance for White and Non-White Samples The Manager's Dilemma: An Unobtrusive Measure of the managerial Sex-Role Stereotype Are Computer Simulations Sexist? The Effect of Group Size on Attitudes Toward the Simulation Associations Between Individual Cognitive Processing Variables and Business Game Performance and Play Students' Perceptions on Managerial Functions After Exposure to Either the Case Method or a Simulation What Business Students Learn from Finance Simulations Attitude Toward Experiential Exercises, The Student-Teacher Relationship, Student Psychological Types, and Performance An Example of How to Design a Research-Based and Classroom-Effective Organizational behavior Exercise Some Issues in Game Design Untested Hypotheses: An Approach to Experiential Learning Evaluation of Simulation Games: A Critical Look at Past Efforts and Future Needs Is Self-Perception Predictable? - Some Laboratory Results An Exercise in Conflict-Handling Behavior The Relationship Between Group Size and the Learning Curve Effect in a Gaming Environment Learning About Organizational Management Through Organizational Management: Closing the Gap Strategies, Managerial Approaches, and Decision Making in a General Management Simulation A Comparison and Evaluation of Similar and Dissimilar Group Scenarios Generated Using Manual Simulation Games Weaknesses of Research Methods in Experiential and Simulation Studies