This is an
exploratory research study aimed toward steadying attendance across a semester
of higher education video game development labs with attention to cooperation
as a co-factor. Following the observation of unusually strong attendance in a
highly cooperative game development lab class which aligns with these theories,
this paper seeks to explore whether subfactors of positive social
interdependence are co-factors with lab attendance. Sparked by previous case
data, this exploratory study examines data from the Fall 2019 iteration of the introductory
video game development course, defining and measuring potential co-factor
variables during an individual-focused half of the course supplemented with
group activity, and a fully group-focused half of the semester, with future
interest in investigating a correlation between attendance and positive
interdependence. Empirical studies of both the performance impact of
attendance, and the financial reliance of residential higher education
institutions on student attendance and retention suggest that understanding how
to operationalize students’ motivation to attend class is epistemically and
fiscally valuable. Studies of positive interdependence raise interest as a
co-factor contextually through high commitment, joint efficacy, and mutual
benefit, strongly overlapping with empirical antecedents of higher education
retention and seminal social psychological frameworks. Therefore, the author began
an intended extensive analysis of consecutive semesters. All students enrolled
in the Fall 2019 introductory game development course (n=56 for students with
matched data sets, 59 retained participant students total) were engaged in
cooperatively-designed lectures and lab activities, with the first half of the
semester’s lighter collaborative activity and independent assigned work to be
compared to the second half’s full-time group project work. Between these
designed halves, two null hypotheses were assessed: 1) lab attendance in the
first half of the semester is equivalent to the second half, and 2) subfactors of
positive interdependence in the first half of the semester are equivalent to
the second half. Attendance proportions and surveyed positive interdependence
measures for the Fall 2019 semester were analyzed using paired sample t-tests.
Attendance, and a majority of positive interdependence subfactors were not
significantly different across halves of the semester, suggesting that
collaboration had evened results across the whole, but not all effects reached
their target results. The Classroom Life Instrument was used to formally
measure the presence of a positive interdependent context before and after
group project work.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/12268778 |
| Date | 08 May 2020 |
| Creators | Brantly E McCord (8812214) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Rights | CC BY 4.0 |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/Attendance_and_Social_Interdependence_in_Game_Development_Labs/12268778 |
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