An innovative framework for higher education to evaluate learning gain: a case study based upon the discipline of marketing

Abstract

The value for money of UK undergraduate degree courses is under increasingly critical scrutiny.Understanding the level of learning achieved by students on any particular course has therefore become of paramount importance as an indicator of teaching quality. The change to the learning that a student undertaking a course has acquired can be expressed as being their 'learning gain' and this paper applies a course level lens to investigate this using an innovative bottom-up approach which considers both the distance travelled by each student (explicit knowledge), and also their journey travelled (tacit understanding). Benchmarking learning gain data was collected from undergraduate marketing students, and gaps in perceived learning were identified. Changes to the teaching were implemented to address issues identified, and data was collected from the next cohort of students for comparison. Students reported significant improvements in learning after the changes in teaching had been implemented.

Investigating the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Undergraduate Business Education: Using Learning Gain as a Measure to Compare Two Cohorts of Marketing Students

“…Taking these considerations into account, this study has used an alternative learning gain model first proposed by Polkinghorne et al [39], and subsequently detailed by Polkinghorne et al [40], which integrates both student explicit knowledge (subject learning that can be codified and verbalized as theory) and tacit understanding (experience and practical application of knowledge) to create a unique two-dimensional evaluation of student learning. Therefore, the model is suited perfectly for holistically assessing learning outcomes, and for informing the continuous improvement process [41] to ensure that the quality of teaching being delivered, and the resulting student learning experience, can be understood, and then improved upon year on year.…”

Evaluating Student Learning Gain: A Study to Consider How Teaching Online During the Covid-19 Pandemic Affected Student Learning

“…For this study, the actual questions asked were based upon a learning gain module first proposed by Polkinghorne et al (2017c) and subsequently developed by Polkinghorne et al (2021b). The model has also been successfully applied in a range of previous studies including the consideration of the learning reported by marketing students (Polkinghorne et al 2021a). As seen in Table 1, the learning gain model formulates questions based upon the intended learning outcomes for the module being considered and separates them into those questions which relate to improvements in a student's explicit knowledge (codifiable data) and those relating to an improvement in a student's tacit knowledge (practical abilities).…”