Silje Synnøve Lyder Hermansen, Department of Political Science

Abstract

Self-assessment and student preparation among students in higher education

Participatory teaching requires student engagement. Yet the degree to which students prepare and partake in class activities varies substantially and systematically. Worse, those who would benefit the most from enhanced learning are sometimes those who partake the least. A first step to better foster active learning, is to know our student body. This project probes into how political science students at the KU prepare, participate and perceive their own abilities. To do so, it relies on data from digital questionnaires and quizzes distributed in class.

The study first establishes a link between preparation and participation: One in three students have read the entire material prior to plenary lectures; placing KU students on par with peers elsewhere. It also shows that student participation is contingent on their preparation. Most notably, unprepared students increasingly shun engagement as the questions zoom in on key takeaways and the likelihood of erroneous answers increases; even when participation is anonymous.

Second, the study establishes a discrepancy between students’ objective skill set and their own self-assessment at the beginning of a new course. Especially men and less experienced students (BA-level and students with lack of similar prior experiences) are in the risk-group. Such miscalculations may hamper students’ ability to allocate sufficient time for preparation.

The study shows indeed that the students whose self-assessment is the lowest, tend to allocate more time for preparation. However, this link is only visible among the experienced students; those who are better able to correctly self-assess. A possible explanation is that our beginner students are open to the idea that they may be wrong in their own assessment. As a group, they also invest more time for preparation.

The study has several implications for how we teach: While focus is often on how to make the classroom a “safe place” for oral participation, the first hurdle is to help students face academic challenges. Furthermore, students adjust their preparation time to their perceived skillset given the course requirements. While our syllabi emphasize information about the requirements for successful completion of a course, as teachers, we may consider how to help students place themselves according to these requirements in a way that encourages active learning.