LETTERS: The topic of student participation has been widely discussed for many years. Student participation is known as a key to learning success.
Teachers and students probably have different views of student participation.
Teachers usually measure student participation based on general criteria and their interpretation of circumstances.
Students who are perceived by teachers as good participants in the class will get higher grades than those who do not pay attention in the class.
A misunderstanding of participation may occur among students and teachers because of conflicting demands on this issue.
Both students and teachers should get a true understanding of the term "student participation". Student participation is students' active behaviour in the learning and involvement in the groups of learners.
Since there are various methods of student participation, students may get confused about the expectations of participation for the particular course of study.
At university level, student participation has been mentioned as a criterion used for quality assurance (e.g. Asean University Network Quality Assurance: AUN-QA).
Therefore, universities in Asean countries should formulate and implement strategies to enhance student participation so that they would accomplish educational standards.
However, different universities may emphasize different forms of student participation depending on their vision, mission, educational philosophy, or policy on education.
Universities' education philosophy provides a guideline for teaching and learning activities.
Hence, a university or faculty (e.g. business management, nursing, and engineering) shall identify appropriate methods of student participation which are linked to university's education philosophy and faculty's mission.
The examples of student participation are engagement in study planning; involvement in discussion session; co-creating course or curriculum; participation in the course evaluation and active participation in the group or community of learners.
Some studies noticed that students in the field of social sciences need a longer period of time for discussion with lecturers, compared with students in the field of natural sciences.
This is because there is no single answer to the question in social sciences and student-lecturer discussions (or student-student discussions) are required.
It seems like a particular faculty or a programme of study should select the forms of student participation matched with its context.
It was found that student participation in many countries were rather lacking.
The effectiveness of student participation may be influenced by cultures in the society (e.g. generational order of teachers and students or seniority culture in Asian countries).
Universities, therefore, should find the solutions to this problem.
Universities with good strategies to encourage student participation will be able to achieve a competitive advantage.
Students who actively participate in the learning process will achieve positive learning outcomes, which in turn will help them gain a high level of employability.
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR DR PHATHARA-ON WESARA
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Prince of Songkla University, Thailand
PROFESSOR DR ABDUL HALIM ABDUL MAJID
School of Business Management, Universiti Utara Malaysia
DR HOUCINE MEDDOUR
School of Business Management, Universiti Utara Malaysia
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times