Student learning and engagement: Student voices from the Common Core Curriculum

Abstract

The Common Core Curriculum, often known as general education in higher education, connects students from all disciplines together to learn beyond specialization. With its interdisciplinary nature, one of the goals of the Common Core Curriculum is to broaden university students’ intellectual and social perspectives and to enhance their capacities demanded by the 21st century including but not limited to creativity, critical thinking, communication, collaborations and global awareness. This study aims to examine student learning and student engagement with the Common Core Curriculum, drawing on various resources consisting of both quantitative and qualitative data. An institution-wide survey was administered annually to yield feedback from students, including their perceptions of the learning environment and learning outcomes of the Common Core Curriculum in different aspects, such as intercultural awareness, global awareness and intellectual skills. Open-ended questions in the survey and focus group interviews conducted with students from various cohorts were analysed to understand their engagement and experience with the Common Core Curriculum. The continuous data collection exercise generates rich data and allows data synthesis. Results from the present study showed steady increases in student perceptions of learning, in support of the on-going development of the curriculum. Word frequency analysis on the qualitative data reflected that students were generally positive towards the values of studying the Common Core Curriculum. The current study presents an example of using evidence-based approach to inform curriculum design and enhance teaching and learning practices, and proposes a data analytic methodology that could be generalized to a broader education context.