Keeping Everyone Involved

Engagement is a key element in student success (Boulton, Hughes, Kent, Smith, and Williams, 2019).  Kahu, Nelson, and Picton of the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia  put it this way: “Engagement is widely recognised as critical for learning and retention (2017).” Students who are actively involved in their learning almost invariably outperform those who take a more passive stance to their education.   

This is true for all courses but especially so in remote and online courses.  Indeed, according to Martin and Bolliger, of the University of North Carolina and the University of Wyoming respectively, “Student engagement increases student satisfaction, enhances student motivation to learn, reduces the sense of isolation, and improves student performance in online courses (2018).”  If all of this is true, then faculty efforts to keep students engaged become all the more urgent.  

Defining Engagement
But how then should we define engagement?  In their article at the web site PLoS ONE, Boulton et al. define engagement as “the active commitment and purposeful effort expended by students towards all aspects of their learning, including both formal and informal activities (2019).” Please note the key words here:  active commitment and purposeful effort.  We can infer then that a strong degree of focus or determination is required of students who want to succeed academically, and it stands to reason that instructors can encourage this attitude.   

Student Engagement Classroom Strategies
These are specific classroom strategies to promote engagement. Follow the link to learn more about keeping students engaged.

References  

Boulton CA, Hughes E, Kent C, Smith JR, Williams HTP (2019) Student engagement and wellbeing over time at a higher education institution. PLoS ONE 14(11): e0225770. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225770  

Martin, F. & Bolliger, D.U. (2018). Engagement matters: Student perceptions on the importance of engagement strategies in the online learning environment. Online Learning 22(1), 205- 222. doi:10.24059/olj.v22i1.1092