The reset of student participation: An analysis of participation tools, dynamics and perceptions in a blended learning context

ABSTRACT

Achieving student participation and invol-vement in the development of each sub-ject is a long-standing challenge in higher education. On the basis of this premise, this article focuses on studying the levels of student participation in virtual and fa-ce-to-face education environments in the third year of the degree in Modern Lan-guages and Translation at the University of Alcala. More specifically, our analysis aims to compare students' general impres-sions of their participation in both con-texts (on-site teaching and virtual teaching during the university closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and to probe their opinion on the participation tools used by the teaching staff with a focus on which of those tools they consider most and least useful in each context. To achieve these aims, a two-stage study combining quanti-tative and qualitative data was developed through two coalescent data collection procedures an online questionnaire res-ponded by 47 out of 70 students and a subsequent virtual discussion group with five students. The analysis of the informa-tion collected consolidates participation as a problematic aspect in the teaching -learning process in both environments, although it also shows a year-on-year im-provement in virtual contexts. Similarly, the results show a widespread support of the instruments used by teachers to boost the levels of student participation in both online and face-to-face sessions.