Engineering Student Engagement in Large First-Year Lectures: A Joint Student-Faculty Study at a Large Canadian University

In-person lectures are a common mode of course delivery at many schools. This study examines factors related to lecture attendance and student engagement within core first-year math, science, and engineering courses in engineering at a large, research-intensive Canadian university. Through an optional and anonymous survey created and distributed by students, a dataset of 229 responses was generated and subsequently co-analyzed by students and faculty. The survey revealed statistically significant relationships of lecture attendance and engagement with factors such as the specific course, motivations for attending (e.g., practice problems or team quizzes), lecture pacing, and the perceived quality of presentation materials. In particular, the motivations for attending had a substantial impact on student-reported engagement (with effect sizes ranging from 0.7 to 1.3). This project also represents an encouraging next step in student-faculty collaboration in the program review process.