JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Increasingly, college science courses are transitioning from traditional lecture format to active learning because students learn more and fail less frequently when they engage in their learning through activities and discussions in class. Fear of negative evaluation, defined as a student’s sense of dread associated with being unfavorably evaluated while participating in a social situation, discourages undergraduates from participating in small group discussions, whole class discussions, and conversing one-on-one with instructors. To equip undergraduates with skills to cope with fear of negative evaluation and bolster their confidence, clinical psychologists, and biology education researchers developed Project Engage, a digital, self-guided single-session intervention for college students. It teaches students strategies for coping with fear of negative evaluation with the aim of bolstering their confidence. Project Engage provides biologically-informed psychoeducation, utilizes interactive elements for engagement, and helps generate a personalized action plan. In a study of 282 upper-level physiology students, participants randomized to complete Project Engage reported greater increases in overall confidence in engaging in small group discussions (p=.013) and whole class discussions (p< .001) but not in one-on-one interactions with instructors (p=.051), from baseline to immediate post-intervention, compared to participants in an active control condition. Project Engage received a high acceptability rating (1.22 on a scale of -2 to +2), and had a high completion rate (>97%). This work provides a foundation for a freely available, easily accessible intervention to bolster student confidence for contributing in class.