Student Engagement in Fostering Quality Teaching in Higher Education

Abstract

Student engagement should be one of the most powerful drivers for improvement of quality teaching in higher education. As students are direct beneficiaries of quality teaching, they are able to provide crucial feedback not only on what works well but also on what they would like to be done differently and how. The paper presents results of research related to students' perception of course Accounting Information Systems (AIS) and way of its implementation at the Faculty of Economic - University of Mostar. At this course lectures include many opportunities for active student engagement through cooperative learning activities (debates, team work, and presentation of project results). The authors developed two questionnaires in order to investigate the students' understanding of AIS course at the beginning and at the end of lectures. At the first class students completed a questionnaire about their expectations from AIS lectures (content, their engagement, learning activities, learning outcomes, assessment) and at the last class they completed another questionnaire about their real experiences related to AIS lectures. Research has been conducted for last two years and it enabled authors to use its results to tailor lectures in accordance with student's expectation and accordingly to improve teaching process.

DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2015.v5n1s1p147