title: “You have to look at the whole picture”: An exploration of influences on pharmacy student engagement and the use of digital data to monitor student engagement
Creators: name: Langran, Catherine
Publisher: name: University of Reading
Year: 2023

description: Within UK universities, student retention and preventing drop out is of key importance. Students dropping out of university has major financial and reputational implications for universities. For students, dropping out can be associated with negative mental, social and financial consequences. Tinto’s model of student dropout outlines the longitudinal student journey throughout their time at university and the social and academic factors that may influence whether a student persists or leaves university. High student engagement has been shown to be strongly correlated with student attainment and retention. Within the Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) degree, students are expected to have high levels of engagement as part of their professional responsibility to learn the necessary knowledge, skills and competence to be a pharmacist. Student engagement may be seen through attendance at teaching activities, accessing teaching materials on the virtual learning environment (VLE) and use of the university library. Learning analytics is a system of collecting and reporting engagement data to give a picture of student engagement. This may be used to identify students in difficulty and intervene to help support their re-engagement. This thesis aimed to explore the influences on MPharm student engagement, and which aspects were most important for students. This thesis also explored students’ perceptions of engagement monitoring systems and the potential impact these may have on changing their engagement behaviour. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with thirteen MPharm students at the start (October 2020) and end (March 2021) of an academic teaching year. Students were presented with their VLE engagement data every two to three weeks throughout the two academic teaching terms. Interview transcripts were analysed deductively according to Tinto’s model of student dropout and the COM-B behavioural change model. Participants described a multitude of factors that influenced their engagement. This included: a supportive family and social network, their pre-university educational experience, individual attributes, interactions with staff, and teaching approaches. Participants’ goal related motivation to become a pharmacist was shown to be the most impactful on their commitment and engagement at university. Most participants enjoyed receiving their VLE engagement data and used this data to benchmark their engagement compared to the cohort average. Some participants described reflecting on the VLE engagement data and being motivated to change their engagement behaviours to be the same or better than the cohort average. Knowing how to change, confidence, time and workload were described as the main barriers preventing some participants changing their behaviour to be more engaged. All participants were accepting of their engagement data being collected by university, as long as consent was given, assurances of data protection were given, and the data was used by staff in a supportive not punitive way. These findings have added to the literature on student engagement and will be used within the department and university to make improvements to engagement monitoring processes and supporting students. Recommendations include the introduction of peer-led student engagement support sessions, increased frequency of tutor meetings, and the introduction of an automated student facing engagement monitoring system.