Expansion and Evaluation of Learning in Small Study Groups at UZH
Steckbrief
| Funding line | focus_innovation |
|---|---|
| Year | 2023 |
| Faculty / Chair | WWF / Department of Economics & Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development |
| Project leader | Prof. Ulf Zölitz |
Project description
Innovative Project idea
The University of Zurich aims to provide high quality academic services to students in order to foster their academic success. Many students, however, struggle with the adjustment of their learning habits when transitioning from high school to university. Engaging students to work in small study groups might be one tool to increase study commitment through teamwork and peer pressure.
To investigate if small study groups improve study commitment and success we would like to introduce study groups in compulsory first year courses at multiple UZH faculties. Students will be assigned to groups of 4 students. These study groups can be used by students to study together, exchange information or engage in other social and academic activities. This project is inspired by the WWF study groups that were successfully introduced in 2018 as part of the Microeconomics 1 course.
With this project, we want to answer the following questions:
- Does the introduction of UZH study groups raise student engagement and performance?
- What is the optimal peer group composition that engages all students in learning?
- When it comes to learning and interacting in university, how important are characteristics such as gender, ethnic origin, education background, personality traits, economic and social preferences?