Students who up their engagement later on struggle to catch the early starters, says study

Source: Times Higher Education

Bachelor students’ use of online materials and attendance at lectures in their first few weeks of university predicts who will perform best at the end of the year, according to a study.

Students who had the highest engagement early on were more likely to get higher marks in year-end assessments than those whose engagement was lower initially but later picked up significantly, the research found.

The findings come from a study of learning analytics data on 1,600 first-year undergraduates at Aston University, which looked at the “digital footprint” the students left throughout the year in areas such as lecture attendance, accessing the virtual learning environment (VLE), and visiting the library.

Comparing this with end-of-year marks, the researchers, also from Aston, found that not only were the top performers generally more engaged throughout the year, but that engagement in the first few weeks was a good predictor of their higher achievement.