Promoting motivation and participation in higher education: A b-learning experience

A b-learning based pedagogical strategy is proposed to promote motivation and participation in higher education. It employs Open Space Technology (OST), collaborative activities, peer evaluation, individual reflection, and the sharing of a final purpose. OST lets the students group themselves according to their interest in a task and develops a mobilizing sense of belonging. A peer-evaluation phase is included, in which each group evaluates and gives suggestions to another group. The groups then produce the final versions of their work, which are presented at a final event whose format has been negotiated to strengthen motivation and shared commitment. The students are also expected to reflect individually on their own participation and learning during the course. The paper describes the pedagogical experiments that supported the development and validation of the strategy and explains why it had a positive impact on student participation and on the overall learning process.