Choice-based learning: lecture-based or team learning?

ABSTRACT

This study investigates choice-based learning as a choice between lecture-based or team learning in a large class at a large university in a European country. The study was designed as a between-subjects quasi-experiment where students were allocated their preferred learning approach. Data were collected for eight consecutive years (2008–2016). Based on quantitative and qualitative data, this study investigates the effect of choice-based learning on choice satisfaction, student selection and on student learning outcomes. The results show that team learning has a positive effect on learning outcomes. If students are faced with the choice, the majority select lecture-based learning. Additionally, both student groups are satisfied with their selected learning paths but selected them for specific reasons. Finally, choice-based learning provides job satisfaction for the instructors of both learning paths. These results can re-energize the ongoing discussion on why and how to engage students in learning activities.

KEYWORDS:

• Self-determination theory (SDT)
• Quasi-experiment
• Choice-based learning
• Cooperative learning
• Lectures

Acknowledgements

We thank our colleagues from the Accounting team, who provided insights and expertise that greatly assisted the development of the two learning paths. We thank Elke Minnaert en Hanne Mortier, teachers in the tutorials (lecture-based and teams), for their for their valuable input. We also thank Thierry Van Loocke, teacher in the lecture-based setting, for his valuable input. We thank Bruno Vandenbussche, for assistance with the survey data and Fanny Buysschaert for sharing her ideas about problem-based learning. We would like to thank Kim Watty (Deakin University) and Alan Sangster (University of Sussex) for comments on an earlier version.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 In Belgium, teaching assistants are part of the university faculty and must have at least a master’s degree (called a postgraduate degree in Australia) in business economics or a similar program. They must excel in the subject area they are teaching and have fixed contracts.

2 The interviewed instructors did not intervene with this research paper and the authors were not interviewed as an instructor.

3 The number of observations in Table 5 drops compared to Table 3 because not all students participated in the final exam of Financial Accounting B and/or Financial Accounting A.

4 We thank the two anonymous reviewers for suggesting this idea.

5 We thank the two anonymous reviewers for suggesting this idea.