Can Student Engagement be Measured? and, if so, Does it Matter?

Students in an introductory science course offered both face-to-face and on-line at the University of Michigan used a web application that allowed them to respond to questions, pose questions and take notes. The data from their participation were recorded, quantified and compared with their resulting grades on exams to ascertain to what degree measures of student participation were related to student learning. These measures of student participation were augmented by data from the university's student information system, which provided background information. Data was also collected from a number of surveys administered over the semester. Analyses of the data revealed some strong relationships between grades and the degree and quality of student participation. Moreover the behavior of students varied significantly when stratified by their incoming GPA. The empirical relationships reported here provide evidence-based affirmation that student participation is related to learning and suggests that the strength of GPA as a predictor of grades may be due more to a lack the study skills and/or motivation rather than cognitive ability.