An Exploration Study of Students’ Engagement and Perception of the Teaching and Learning Environment

Abstract

The purpose of this study is two-fold: (1) to examine students’ perceptions of their capabilities in their respective study programs, and (2) to examine students’ perceptions of the quality of the teaching and learning environment. A stratified sample of college students was chosen and consisted of 1086 students (320 male 29.5%, and 766 female students 70.5%) from 3rd and 4th-year students. T-test results indicated that female students tend to be more self-managed and cooperative learners than male students, where male students scored higher on creative thinking, teaching for understanding, feedback to assist learning, assessment, the relationship between teachers and students, and workload. Moreover, t-test indicated that 4th-year students scored higher than 3rd-year students on critical thinking, self-managed learning, adaptability, problem-solving, communication skills, interpersonal skills, group work, and computer literacy. The computed ANOVA showed that there were significant differences between all colleges on the dimensions of the students’ engagement questionnaire, except for self-managed learning and the relationship between teachers and students.