Nudging Students to an Authentic Learning Experience and Educational Outcomes

There is a flurry of research suggesting that active classroom settings, including but not limited to the flipped classroom or team-based learning, constitute best pedagogical practices. These approaches preclude an authentic learning experience for students who do not feel comfortable contributing in such a setting and those for whom a social setting is distracting. This research approaches the research problem: does nudging students to find the style of learning that works best for them lead to an improvement in course engagement and class performance? At the beginning of the semester in intermediate level environmental economics and agricultural statistics courses at the University of Florida, students were given a learning style assessment and asked to reflect on how they should engage in the course based on the outcomes of the assessment. Throughout the semester, opportunities were given to allow students to choose the path of course engagement that worked best for the individual learner. At the end of the semester, students were then surveyed on how they engaged in the course and how a reminder of their learning style influenced their study habits in these courses. This research informs how the cultivation of authentic learning experiences influences educational outcomes.