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1
www.uwindsor.ca/autism
Encouraging Classroom Participation in a
University Lecture Settingwith Positive
Reinforcement Nichole S. Wright, Marcia N.
Gragg, Kenneth M. Cramer 1 1Department of
Psychology, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON,
Canada N9B 3P4
wrigh16_at_uwindsor.ca
Introduction Undergraduate university classes
often involve a professor lecturing to 100 or
more students. Unfortunately, this may result in
minimal opportunities for students active
engagement. The purpose of this study is to
challenge the current lack of opportunity for
student participation in undergraduate University
classes today. Positive reinforcement was used
to promote student participation in a 2nd year
developmental psychology class.
Results Class participation rose from 35 relevant
comments/questions per week during initial
Baseline, to 47 per week during the Unaware
Phase, to an average of 53 per week during the
Informed Phase, and 70 per week for the final
Baseline.
Hypothesis It was predicted that student
participation would increase when immediately
rewarded with conditional reinforcement and a
backup reinforcement.

• To determine the effect of extrinsic
  reinforcement on previously highly motivated
  students, two students who participated
  frequently in class were identified during
  initial Baseline. These data show that
  participation for these two students remained
  relatively constant.

• Method
• Participants
• 96 participants enrolled in a second year
  psychology class
• Data Collection
• Participation was defined as students comments
  or questions in class relevant to the course
  content.
• Data for participation were collected over 5
  weeks, with two 80-minute lecture classes per
  week in the following phases
• Baseline - for 2 classes, with no participation
  ballots.
• Unaware Phase - for 2 classes, ballots were
  awarded to students for participation without
  explaining the purpose of the ballots.
• Informed Phase - for 4 classes, after explaining
  the purpose of the participation ballots.
• Final Baseline - for 2 classes, with no
  participation ballots.
• Students who earned a participation ballot were
  eligible to win a gift certificate for the
  University Bookstore or a coffee shop.
• Student attendance and number of questions posed
  by the Instructor were recorded for each class.

• Limitations
• Short group activities and other class events
  such as movies could have directly affected class
  participation. Distractibility for this
  assignment was unavoidable when distributing
  participation ballots throughout the classroom.
• It is possible that class participation increased
  due to students higher comfort level as the
  semester progressed.

• Students level of participation showed a
  significant increase while cues from the
  instructor remained relatively constant.

• Conclusions
• Positive reinforcement was associated with
  increased class participation overall, while it
  showed little or no effect on participation
  levels for highly motivated students.
• After the study, students said they both enjoyed
  and benefited from the class participation
  activity.

• Acknowledgements
• Participants in the Developmental Psychology
  class
• Instructor Regan Gale, M.A.