%0 Journal Article
%T Student engagement in a Human Anatomy and Physiology course: a New Zealand perspective
%A Alex Bowmar
%A Nicola Power
%A Shannon Foster
%A Stephen J. Brown
%J Advances in Physiology Education
%D 2018
%R https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00035.2018
%X The population diversity of New Zealand is due to the unique fusion of indigenous peoples of Polynesian origin (M─ori), western European colonization (P─keh─), and more recent (20th century) immigration from the Pacific region (Pasifika). However, disparities in tertiary education indicate that M─ori and Pasifika students are more likely to drop out during their first year of study and are less likely to complete their qualification than their P─keh─ peers. Higher levels of course engagement may increase first-year grades, elevate academic performance, and encourage persistence between the first and second years of study. Therefore, a Student Course Engagement Questionnaire was used to quantify engagement in a compulsory first-year undergraduate Human Anatomy and Physiology course in a New Zealand university. A data mining technique was used to assign students into a low-engagement/low-achievement cluster, and a high-engagement/high-achievement cluster. The skills, emotional, and participation-interaction components of engagement were lower in Pasifika students: these students¨ academic grade was lower than those of both M─ori and P─keh─ students. The strongest predictors of cluster membership were skills engagement and emotional engagement, suggesting that these components outweighed other aspects of course engagement. M─ori and Pasifika students were overrepresented in the low-engagement/low-achievement cluster, and underrepresented in the high-engagement/high-achievement cluster. We suggest that embedding study skills within course delivery, and constantly emphasizing their importance, would likely increase student course engagement. Also, we report that both M─ori and Pasifika students remain more disengaged than their P─keh─ peers.
%U http://www.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/advan.00035.2018