Effect of Active Learning Techniques on Student Excitement, Interest, and Self-Efficacy

Abstract

What is the impact of active learning techniques on student excitement, interest, and self-efficacy in a course? An American Foreign Policy and National Security course was designed around the utilization of a number of active learning techniques, including simulations, a debate, and counterfactual analysis. Students in the course were surveyed about their feelings of excitement toward the course, interest in course material, and feelings that they could do well in the course as a result of each aspect of course design. Results of the surveys reveal that the active learning techniques did indeed increase students’ excitement, interest, and self-efficacy, suggesting that courses utilizing course designs centered on student engagement and enjoyment could bolster students’ overall learning in courses.

Keywords:

• Active learning
• learner outcomes
• simulations

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Dianna Baldwin, Anne Hunter, Sarah Long, Marisa Rinkus, the participants in the 2017 APSA Teaching and Learning Conference Games & Simulations Track, and anonymous reviewers for their comments on previous versions of this manuscript.

Notes

1 All course documents are available from the author upon request. IRB approval was sought and obtained, with IRB approval number x16-1292e, category: Exempt 1.

2 See Drew and Mackie (2011) for a comprehensive discussion of perspectives on active learning.

3 See, for instance, Bennion (2015), which offers a discussion both of the rationale and merits of active learning techniques as well as information on a variety of potential forms

4 IRB approval was sought and obtained, with IRB approval number x16-1292e, category: Exempt 1.

5 Excitement and interest are similar but distinct concepts. As conceptualized, interest may be external to a particular course, based on a student’s prior knowledge of a topic. Such interest may have led them to take the course in the first place. Excitement is anticipation of the material to be learned; a student can be interested in the course material but utterly bored by the course delivery, whereas excitement suggests more active engagement with the course itself as a mechanism for learning more about a topic (that may or may not be of interest). Likewise, highly dynamic classrooms that engage students may cause excitement in students even if they have no intrinsic interest in the subject (such as because it fulfills a general education requirement and fit conveniently into their schedule).

6 From a pedagogical perspective, lecture is the baseline alternative to active learning techniques: absent such activities, the default class structure relies primarily on lecture, and perhaps some discussion. This default is noted in the literature, especially in research considering the benefits and trade-offs of using simulations (for example, Asal 2005).

7 Additionally, although the impacts cannot be determined for sure in this study, students potentially weighed the different techniques against one another in their assessments of each activity—someone who really connected with the simulations, for instance, probably privileged those in their assessments over the counterfactual analysis paper.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Petra Hendrickson

Petra Hendrickson is an assistant professor of international studies at Centre College in Danville, KY. She earned her PhD in political science from Michigan State University in 2015 and was an instructor there until 2017. Her research and teaching interests center on political violence, South and Southeast Asia, and pedagogy.