Educational Performance, ‘Clicker’ Engagement and Ethnicity: Evidence from Finance 101
32 Pages Posted: 11 Dec 2014
Date Written: December 10, 2014
Abstract
We explore the nexus between academic performance, ethnicity and student engagement via learning technologies. We do so in the context of an introductory, high volume, finance course at a leading Australasian university. More specifically, we explore three research questions (1) What factors determine student ‘clicker’ based engagement? (2) Does engagement improve academic performance? (3) Do Māori and Pacific Island (MPI) students underperform their peers and do the determinants of performance differ to those of their peers? Our results support several important findings. First, male students in the early stages of their degree and living in a residential college attend lectures more often than other students. Second, Non-MPI students who attend lectures as measured by engagement through clicker participation achieve higher marks on both the formative (Quizzes) and summative assessments (a Midterm exam). Third, MPI students have lower average attainment in the Midterm compared to other Finance 101 students. Finally, this research highlights that drivers of success for MPI students are different and not well captured by our model. In particular, unlike other students, attendance did not prove to be an important determinant in attainment.
Keywords: Tertiary education, higher education, finance, learning technologies, Māori, Pacifica
JEL Classification: A20, A22
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation