Economics Students' Approaches to Learning in Different Assessment Regimes

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Economics Students Approaches to Learning in
Different Assessment Regimes
Tommy Tang Tim Robinson Queensland University
of Technology, Australia
Paper presented at the Third International
Conference in Developments in Economics and
Business Education, Cambridge, UK 1-2 Sept 2005.
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• Outline
• 1. Introduction
• Input-output approach and its limitations
• Biggs 3-P Model of Learning
• 2. The study
• 3. Findings Discussions
• 4. Conclusion

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Introduction
Input-output Approach
Q f(X1, X2, X3, ?)
where Q Learning output (marks) X1
Aptitude X2 Age X3 Parental occupation
Limitations
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Biggs 3-P Model of Learning
Presage Process Product
Feedback
Student characteristics
Learning approach
Learning outcome
Teaching context
Feedback
(Biggs 1989, modified)
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An econometric approach which assesses the
impact of easily measurable independent variables
on a single dependent variable may simply miss
important responses to teaching change.
(Shanahan et al., 1997)
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The Study

• Research Objective
• Construct instruments to investigate
• students perceptions of assessment, and
• learning strategies for assessment

Construction of Instrument SPQ (Biggs), ASI
(Entwistle Ramsden), MSLQ (Pintrich et al), LAQ
(Thomas) Focus groups Student surveys
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Subjects Students in Economics 1 Economics
2 Business cycles economic growth Sample
size Week 1 n 1146 Week 2 n 648
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Findings Discussions
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Perceptions of Assessment
Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)
High Low
RW2_MCQ .709
CRIT_MCQ .603
DU2_MCQ .560
INTG_MCQ .528
RHI_MCQ .483
RW1_MCQ .461
FDBK_MCQ .387
RLOW_MCQ .333 .311
MEM3_MCQ .792
MEM1_MCQ .685
MEM2_MCQ .570
MEM4_MCQ .231 .306
DU1_MCQ .222
High Low
RW2_ASS .756
DU2_ASS .649
INTG_ASS .576
CRIT_ASS .568
RW1_ASS .543
FDBK_ASS .525
RHI_ASS .501
RLOW_ASS .379 .341
MEM3_ASS .759
MEM1_ASS .641
MEM2_ASS .515
MEM4_ASS .261 .357
DU1_ASS
High Low
RW2_EX .657
DU2_EX .586
CRIT_EX .545
RW1_EX .513
INTG_EX .497
FDBK_EX .494
RHI_EX .417 .322
MEM3_EX .711
MEM2_EX .706
MEM1_EX .587
RLOW_EX .288 .548
MEM4_EX .236 .347
DU1_EX
MCQ Essay Assignment Essay
Exam (KMO0.747) (KMO 0.805) (KMO 0.793)
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Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)
MCQ Essay Exam
?2 /df 2.116 2.424 2.458
CFI 0.963 0.964 0.961
RMSEA 0.044 0.047 0.048
The final model
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Learning Strategies for Assessment
EFA
Understanding Reproducing Integration Rote-memorising
U6 .529
R6 .509
U3 .496
U1 .463
U2 .400
U4 .383
S10 .518
S6 .473
S11 .456
S7 .453
S8 .406
U5 .245 .318 -.295
R2 .726
R1 .716
R5 .623
R4 .448
R3 .239
S4 .683
S3 .594
S2 .225 .497
S1 .434
KMO 0.835
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CFA
(?2/df 2.22, CFI 0.949 and RMSEA 0.034)
The final model
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CFA 2nd order factor model
(?2/df 2.610, CFI 0.938, RMSEA 0.038 )
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Perceptions of Assessment
Assessment type Level of intellectual skill N Mean Std. dev.
MCQ LOW 578 3.898 0.7953
MCQ HIGH 565 3.063 0.6495
Essay Exam LOW 613 3.736 0.7932
Essay Exam HIGH 600 3.591 0.5613
Essay Assignment LOW 641 2.601 0.8137
Essay Assignment HIGH 630 3.896 0.6012
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Learning Approaches for Assessment
Approaches Assessment type N Mean Std. Dev.
Understanding MCQ 570 3.469 0.6489
Understanding Essay Assignm 628 3.513 0.6194
Understanding Essay Exam 604 3.624 0.5937
Integrating MCQ 566 3.563 0.7558
Integrating Essay Assignm 624 3.721 0.7185
Integrating Essay Exam 598 3.709 0.7257
Reproducing MCQ 570 3.640 0.6921
Reproducing Essay Assignm 630 3.258 0.7144
Reproducing Essay Exam 603 3.542 0.7073
Rote-memorising MCQ 572 3.318 0.7802
Rote-memorising Essay Assignm 628 3.071 0.8059
Rote-memorising Essay Exam 603 3.263 0.7742
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Stability of Perceptions
LOW_mcq LOW_ex LOW_ass HIGH_mcq HIGH_ex HIGH_ass
LOW_mcq 1
LOW_mcq (578)
LOW_ex .472 1
LOW_ex (560) (613)
LOW_ass .105 .178 1
LOW_ass (576) (613) (641)
HIGH_mcq -.063 -.068 .224 1
HIGH_mcq (563) (546) (562) (565)
HIGH_ex .107 .050 .089 .329 1
HIGH_ex (546) (599) (599) (543) (600)
HIGH_ass .151 .166 -.043 .093 .499 1
HIGH_ass (564) (601) (628) (562) (599) (630)
Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level
(2-tailed). Correlation is significant at the
0.05 level (2-tailed).
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Conclusion Implication for Future Research
Approach
Assessment
(Stability)