The landscape of higher education is currently undergoing extraordinary change. Critical to informing fundamental shifts in how institutions operate and educate is an understanding of today's learners. In the wake of recent global events, the authors have observed that 'something has changed' about their students. They seem to bring different…

The ability to understand science is important for productive participation in societies that rely on scientific knowledge to guide decision-making. A challenge is how to motivate and engage all learners in science, and not just those destined for science-related careers. This challenge becomes more acute in senior secondary high-stakes assessment…

Passion is key to unlocking student engagement. The project marketplace has been developed over the past five years in an MBA innovation course as a method for allowing students to pitch, vote and form groups around problems they are already passionate about. This allows them to apply course concepts and work on a topic they care deeply about and…

Engaging and motivating learners to successfully complete their studies are crucial elements for the success of distance educators around the world. The researchers' AIM newsletter, which is formatted in accordance with motivational learning theory, has been delivered to first-year learners in economics at Open Polytechnic of New Zealand from 2010…

By engaging students in everyday issues and events, STEM education can contribute to the development of citizens who are equipped to make the world a better place. However, students' STEM learning with this focus requires teachers to identify age and context appropriate issues. Student investigation of local issues and events can be motivating for…

Game-based Student Response Systems (GSRSs) are held to improve students' motivation, engagement, classroom dynamics, academic performance, and enjoyment. Kahoot! is one such tool which is touted for its effectiveness at enhancing pedagogy. There is uncertainty, however, around the specific circumstances under which GSRSs provide value. We address…

Aim/Purpose: We aimed to investigate the circumstances under which Kahoot! (a Game-based Student Response System (GSRS)) increases junior and senior Information Science university students' learning and knowledge retention beyond that of traditional teaching methods. We also explored whether the positive learning impacts of Kahoot! vary as a…

Background: The importance of digital technologies for enhancing learning in formal education settings has been widely acknowledged. In the light of this expectation, it is important to investigate the effects of these technologies on students' learning and development. Purpose: This study explores longitudinal empirical research on digital…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to better understand what helps and hinders the engagement of students in a project-based learning (PjBL) approach as the sole mode of teaching and learning for the entire first year of a Bachelor of Applied Management. Design/methodology/approach: This study takes an action research approach by investigating…

This report discusses the potential of games to support learning, and what innovative game-based (or "gameful") learning and teaching practices can look like in a range of New Zealand school settings. Over 2 years, we undertook fieldwork in 14 schools, interviewed 21 teachers and more than 100 students ranging from Year 3 to Year 13. We…

Research into both student engagement and student emotions is increasing, with widespread agreement that both are critical determinants of student success in higher education. Less researched are the complex, reciprocal relationships between these important influences. Two theoretical frameworks inform this paper: Pekrun's taxonomy of academic…

This paper investigated the extent to which the engagement levels of a self-selected cohort of students enrolled in first-year law programmes at three New Zealand universities varied according to ethnicity. When viewed in the light of factors identified within the international literature as having a bearing on student engagement and, in…

This article reports two studies undertaken at The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand, a vocational distance education (DE) provider, where course completion rates have risen to match those of face-to-face technical institutions. A simple model of student engagement is presented, which reflects the triality between the student, institution, and…

The school in which this research project took place, Papatoetoe Central, was concerned about research evidence that indicated students' reading achievement dropped after long summer breaks. This drop in achievement, known as "the summer effect", has been reported in schools in New Zealand and internationally (Alexander, Entwisle, &…

The aim of my critical literature review is to identify studies where students are engaged as partners in teaching in higher education and to analyze how tutors and tutees benefit from peer teaching. Thirty studies were included for review. Thirteen countries are represented and two thirds of the studies conducted in the United States of America…