Improving Classroom Engagement using Enhanced Teaching Methods

Third level student engagement in the classroom can be difficult for a number of reasons. Putting the content aside, factors include the duration of the class, size of the class, and time of day. Teacher directed learning with enhanced teaching techniques can be used to improve motivation. The teacher is central to the direction of technique used and should adapt to the environment. Introducing classroom activities can be seen to improve student engagement
and to reinforce key components. Teaching a technical discipline possess additional challenges in that the requirement to use technology in the classroom may not be feasible due to available infrastructural services. However, many students now possess mobile technology which allows them to participate in simple short classroom quizzes. The
classroom quiz provides an opportunity to open discussions regarding question specifics. In addition to this it can be shown that improving participation in the classroom can improve motivation and performance in a subject overall. This paper will assess the performance of students studying a networking module whilst undertaking year 3 of a 4 year honours degree in computing.