Influence of Learners’ Diversity on the Pedagogical Practices in Engineering Education: A Meta-Analysis of Teachers’ Reflections

Abstract

The escalating transits of learners across the international boundaries have resulted into several eruptive pedagogical practices in the class room teaching. A paradigm shift in the pedagogies has been experienced by the teachers to fulfilling the academic demands by the international learners. Though the teaching-learning processes have become more effective, versatile and technology driven due to the learners’ diversity, it may be important to understand the challenges, barriers and psychological reflections by the teachers in facing these transformations. The article analyses the reflections by the teachers on the catering to the student’s diversity. Total of sixty one teachers from different engineering streams participated in the survey. The data were collected anonymously. A metaanalysis has been carried out to obtain the similarities and differences of reflections on various hypotheses. All the important attributes of academics namely pedagogic, assessment, method of instructions, cultural integration of students in a common task, and overall influence of the diversity on the teaching-learning processes have been discussed. The study revealed that the teachers had to accommodate the diversity in their concurrent pedagogic and students had to develop new learning styles. The teachers have shown agreement on most of the hypothesis mentioned in the questionnaire; however it was found that catering the students’ diversity in the class room is the function of the interpersonal skills, academic experience and ability to communicate effectively with the diversified learners. The results established that the teachers will have to accommodate the learner’s diversity by a continuous up gradation and by embracing the new ways of pedagogical practices. The study inspired the authors to propose a model for effective pedagogy in the diversified class rooms and has been presented for the futuristic discussion by the readers and academicians. Keywords—Diversity; Engineering education; Learners; Metaanalysis; Pedagogy; Teachers