Improving student engagement in the classroom is a common concern among faculty these days. At some point in the conversation, the mythic college student makes an appearance. That perfect student of the past was always on time, had always done the reading, answered every question with astounding complexity, and memorized everything the professor said. What a great time that must have been!
We may not ever have a classroom filled with the students of our dreams, but what if we could get a bit closer? What if we could encourage motivation, curiosity, and enthusiasm for learning? What would happen if we understood a bit more about how engagement really works?
Scholars who study college learning define student engagement as, “the mental state students are in while learning, representing the intersection of feeling and thinking.” (Barkley & Major, 2020, p. 6). Engaged students are not just absorbing content, they try to make meaning of what they are studying by putting in intellectual effort and working through challenging ideas. Engaged learners care about the subject, feel motivated or excited to learn, and take ownership of their own learning.
We tend to think of engagement in the classroom in restrictive terms, as students asking and answering questions. Yet, engagement is more complex. We can look for many signs of engagement through the interaction of three dimensions of a person’s attitude, or how an individual evaluates a person, idea, or thing. These three dimensions–cognitive, affective, and behavioral–work together to influence an individual’s engagement on any given task or day (see table 1).
What engagement looks like
Cognitive: the extent to which students are attending to and spending mental effort on the learning tasks encountered
Being curious, wanting to understand something
Psychological or intellectual investment in learning
Use strategies that lead to deep learning
Behavioral: the extent to which students are making active responses to the learning tasks presented
Asking or answering questions
Affective: the level of students’ investment in, and their emotional reactions to, the learning tasks
Students care about their learning
Interest, enthusiasm, and excitement about what they are doing
Motivated, challenged by new things
Willing to participate in the learning process
It is also important to understand that engagement can look different for different students or different groups of students. If students were raised in a culture in which it is disrespectful to interrupt an elder or person in authority, they may feel uncomfortable engaging in a full class discussion. However, they may still be deeply engaged in listening and thinking about the subject matter and may enjoy a small group discussion or writing activity. Students may also choose not to participate if they feel that they will be ridiculed for a wrong answer, or if they otherwise feel unsafe.
Given what we know, can we actually promote student engagement in the classroom? The answer is, Yes! While we cannot control all of the factors that influence students’ learning experiences, instructors can create learning environments in which students feel encouraged and supported to engage in active learning.
Active Learning refers to a broad range of teaching strategies that engage students as active participants in their learning during class time. Active learning helps students to engage with the course material beyond reading, listening, and note-taking, and it contributes to the development of higher order thinking skills (e.g., analysis, synthesis, evaluation) as well as content knowledge. Active learning often involves interaction among students, though these activities can vary in intensity.
Using active learning strategies can be a little daunting for instructors coming from a conventional lecture format, so start small. Think about your class; where do you see one small opportunity to make a change? Make sure that the new strategies align with your learning outcomes and relate in a meaningful way to your expectations for learning. An activity might be fun, but it should help students make meaningful connections to the course material.
Almost everyone who has taught a class has used the student participation grade as a primary assessment of engagement. In light of what we have learned about the complexities of motivation, engagement, and learning, many professors have stopped this practice in favor of more active learning strategies and inclusive teaching practices. But if we want to assess what we value, we can design reflective and thoughtful assessments of engagement.
We can create assessments that tap into the cognitive, behavioral, and affective dimensions of engagement discussed previously. Look for evidence that students are taking an active role in their learning; this may show up in different ways for different students. For example, one student may take a leadership role in managing group projects while another student spends a lot of time supporting and mentoring other group members.
One way to collect information about student engagement is through self-assessment. Metacognition about one’s own learning and engagement is an important higher order skill that can help develop critical thinking. Students can be guided to reflect on their own motivations, effort, and learning. Provide a rubric or other evaluative framework before an assignment or activity—this shares your expectations as well as provides a platform for self-assessment. This can also work well for group activities and projects.
Course feedback methods are another way to learn about student interest and attitudes towards the course. Start the semester by giving students a notecard or preparing an online form to complete on the first day of class. Ask them to write down what works best for their learning and something professors do that they don’t like. Mid-semester feedback can help you identify which teaching strategies have been the most effective for student learning. Anonymous responses might reveal feelings of safety (or not) for participating in class.
Improving student engagement will take some effort, but it’s well worth it! Some key takeaways:
Tracy Marcella Addy et al. (2021) What Inclusive Instructors Do: Principles and Practices for Excellence in College Teaching. Sterling VA: Stylus.
Ambrose, S. A., Bridges, M. W., DiPietro, M., Lovett, M. C., & Norman, M. K. (2010). How learning works. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons.
Barkley, E. F., & Major, C. H. (2020). Student engagement techniques: A handbook for college faculty (2 nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Lang, J. M. Small Changes in Teaching (Chronicle of Higher Education 9-part series)