Students' engagement in first-year university

Kerrie-Lee Krause, Griffith University
Hamish Coates, ACER

Abstract

This article reports on seven calibrated scales of student engagement emerging from a large-scale study of first year undergraduate students in Australian universities. The article reports data from the 2004 first-year study that included a special focus on engagement. Specifically the authors report psychometric results from their analysis, and locate these scales in salient research contexts. The analysis presents insights into contemporary undergraduate student engagement, including online, self-managed, peer and student-staff engagement. The results point to the imperative for developing a broader understanding of engagement as a process with several dimensions. These must be acknowledged in any measurement and monitoring of this construct in higher education. The article calls for a more robust theorising of the engagement concept that encompasses both quantitative and qualitative measures. It considers implications for pedagogy and institutional policy in support of enhancing the quality of the student experience.