The influence of course structure on the pass rate and perception of workload

Abstract

The second half of the twentieth century saw the pioneering works on pedagogical research in higher education, at first focusing on understanding the processes of teaching and learning themselves, to gradually develop to suggest efficient approaches to teaching. A notable part of this effort is the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ), designed to quantify students’ impressions about courses they have taken. In this project we present an analysis of selected CEQ data gathered for 22 courses at the Physics Department of Lund University, from 2010 to 2013. We divide our sample into ground- (mandatory) and advanced level (elective) courses, and examine the correlation between the perceived workload and pass rates, as well as the time structure of the course for each. We confirm the well-known finding that lectures are perceived as the most intense type of learning activity, as well as the absence of correlation between the
objective and subjective workload. We infer from data that emphasis on lectures and group work has a negative effect on students’ experience of workload, whereas the opposite is true for lab work and self-study.