The Costs of Not Paying Attention: An Exploration of the Academic Impacts of Student Participation and Engagement During Large Engineering Classes

This quantitative exploratory study uses a post-course survey to examine the influence distracting in-class behaviours (working on other courses or engaging with digital devices) has on student learning. It is set in a pair of team-based introduction to engineering courses taught in an active learning format in a large lecture hall. Distracted in-class behaviours were associated with a course grade reduction up to 7% to the individual and 4% to the individual’s teammates (both statistically significant). A second example of impacts on teams was a statistically significant relationship in attendance: a student was more likely to attend class if their teammates were also attending. Overall, the findings confirm negative impacts of distractions observed in other learning environments also apply to team-based, active learning classrooms, and they provide valuable information as we attempt to improve the learning environment and learning experience for all students.