Academic discipline as a moderating variable between seating location and academic performance: implications for teaching

ABSTRACT

Previous research on university students’ academic performance indicates that students’ seating locations can be an indicator of their academic performance. However, previous research on the relationship between university students’ seating locations and their academic performance is mixed, and there is a lack of research about whether students’ academic discipline moderates this relationship. This study addresses this gap in the literature through a study of 182 university students in Hong Kong. Biglan categorization was used to classify disciplines into soft (a low degree of consensus) and hard fields (a high degree of consensus). The results revealed that students from soft fields who sat at the front of a class performed better than their counterparts who sat at the back, while the performance of students from hard fields was not significantly influenced by their seating location. This article’s findings suggest that classroom seating arrangements should be tailored to academic disciplines to maximize their efficacy and that universities should redesign classroom layouts to extend the experience of sitting at the front of a class to all students.

KEYWORDS:

• Seating location
• academic performance
• academic disciplines
• Biglan categorization
• iBeacon/BLE technology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The study was supported by the ‘Augmenting Physical Learning Spaces with Location-based Services Using iBeacon Technology for Engaging Learning Experiences’ project, from the UGC Funding Scheme for Teaching and Learning Related Proposals (2016–19 Triennium), University Grants Committee, Hong Kong.