Layering of the Assessment Process: The Path to Improved Attendance, Learning and Engagement

This submission outlines the steps taken to put into effect a teaching and learning strategy leading to greater undergraduate student engagement and attendance in two final year business modules. The lack of student engagement and ‘creeping passivity’ has been problematic in the higher education (HE) classrooms. This has been characterised by student absenteeism and this feature was reported on in an article by one of the authors published in a leading national quality newspaper. In this article, he described half-empty classrooms for much of the semester and sought solutions to this situation. This paper reports on one attempted solution designed to combat student disengagement and absenteeism. The target group was two undergraduate modules in final year of a business studies programme. The approach is also suitable for postgraduate students and should be applicable across cultural settings but may require a certain degree of socialisation in situations.