Analyzing student achievement to measure the effectiveness of professional development for active learning strategies in the engineering classroom

This Evidence-Based Practice Paper examines how integration of active learning affects student achievement. There is a significant body of research that has illustrated the positive impact of active learning on student achievement and engagement, and this paper delves into the process of how student achievement can indicate the success of active learning as a best practice. When paired with a classroom observation rubric, like the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP), student achievement can provide evidence that active learning is present and impacting how students are performing and interacting with their coursework. This paper is an extension of research conducted through the Just-in-Time-Teaching with Two Way Formative Feedback for Multiple Disciplines (JTFD) grant, an NSF-funded IUSE grant that started in the fall of 2015. The grant used a model of year-long faculty development project that consisted of eight biweekly workshops and six subsequent biweekly Communities of Practice (CoPs) to share best practice strategies in active learning and engagement style teaching with over 80 engineering faculty from multiple disciplines at a large southwestern university. This paper provides information on how student achievement can measure the effectiveness of active learning in the engineering classroom. While students have historically perceived traditional lecture methods as more effective, research has emerged showing the opposite: student achievement is higher when active learning is integrated into the classroom. This paper also discusses past findings as they relate to student achievement and how the data associated with this five-year project aligns with the research that student achievement is increased in classrooms that utilize active learning and engagement-style strategies. Results show an increase in persistence along with an overall positive shift in grade distribution.