Investigating the Enhancement of Student Engagement through Extracurricular Activities: A Four-Year Longitudinal Study

Abstract

For many years, educators have always tried to find ways to boost student engagement. The Computing Programme of the Macao Polytechnic Institute (MPI) has been organising various extracurricular activities (ECA) throughout the academic years in an effort to raise the engagement levels of its computing undergraduates. This was a four-year longitudinal study of a single cohort of students, from entry into the first year of the Computing Programme (student intake 2017–18 for Macao Polytechnic Institute) through exit from fourth year, exploring student engagement, in order to demonstrate how ECA impacted their engagement levels. This study employed a quantitative approach. A 30-item Computing Programme Longitudinal Survey of Student Engagement (CPLSSE) was used as the instrument for data collection. Quantitative data from the CPLSSE were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Alpha was established apriori at 0.05. Findings showed that the ECA have a positive impact on the engagement level of the computing students.