Improved Behavioural Engagement of Students through Low-stakes Online Tests and Immediate Dialogic Feedback

Abstract

The engagement of students is a recognised challenge for teachers. Technology offers some practical student engagement tools, and this paper examines the use of low-stakes online tests and immediate dialogic feedback to improve behavioural engagement. The academic exploration of low-stakes tests and dialogic feedback has been extensive, and they are credible teaching tools. In this study, we explore the learning benefit of their combination. Postgraduate engineering students' self-reported and learning analytics data shows conclusive evidence of improved behavioural engagement. We measured a 500% increase in the Learning Management System (LMS) page views on the days when we ran the low-stakes tests (each worth 2% of the marks for the subject) and engaged in immediate dialogic feedback. To interpret these results, we draw on theories of behavioural engagement, low-stakes tests, and feedback. We conclude that the combination of low-stakes tests and immediate feedback improves student behavioural engagement.