Can we measure student engagement?

 

 

 

Two frameworks offer effective teaching/learning methodologies for web-based training:

1. The Engagement Theory

A framework for technology based teaching and learning

 2. Constructivism

1. Engagement Theory

A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Authors are: 

While in principle such engagement could occur without the use of technology, the authors believe that technology can facilitate engagement in ways which are difficult to achieve otherwise. Thus engagement theory is intended to be a conceptual framework for technology-based learning and teaching.

"For example, with its emphasis on meaningful learning, it is very consistent with constructivist approaches.   Because it emphasizes collaboration among peers and a community of learners, it can be aligned with situated learning theories. Because its focuses on experiential and self-directed learning, it is similar in nature to theories of adult learning (i.e. androgogy)."

Basic Principles

By engaged learning, the authors mean:

all student activities that involve active cognitive processes such as

• creating,
• problem-solving,
• reasoning,
• decision-making, and
• evaluation.

In addition, students are intrinsically motivated to learn if there is a meaningful nature of the learning environment and activities.

RELATE - CREATE - DONATE

Engagement theory is based upon the idea of creating successful collaborative teams that work on ambitious projects that are meaningful to someone outside the classroom.  

These three components, summarized by
Relate-Create-Donate, imply that learning activities:

1. occur in a group context (i.e. collaborative teams)
2. are project-based
3. have an outside (authentic) focus

 

RELATE emphasizes team efforts that involve communication, planning, management and social skills.

 

The modern workplace demands proficiency in these skills, yet historically students have been taught to work and learn on their own.

 

Research on collaborative learning suggests that in the process of collaboration, students are forced to clarify and verbalize their problems, thereby facilitating solutions.  Furthermore, when students work in teams, they often have the opportunity to work with others from quite different backgrounds and this facilitates an understanding of diversity and multiple perspectives.

 

 

CREATE makes learning a creative, purposeful activity.

 

Students have to define the project (problem domain) and focus their efforts on application of ideas to a specific context.

 

Conducting their own projects is much more interesting to students then answering sterile textbook problems. And because they get to define the nature of the project (even if they don't choose the topic), they have a sense of control over their learning which is absent in traditional classroom instruction.

 

Project orientation is the essence of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) approaches which are often used in medical and others types of professional education (e.g. Barrows & Tamblyn, 1980).

 

The third principle (the "DONATE" component) stresses the value of structuring their learning in terms relevant to the team.

 

The authors bring a real time focus to the collaborative project by suggesting that ‘projects could be a campus group, community organization, school, church, library, museum, government agency, local business, or needy individual.  In many cases, the projects can be work-related, i.e. an activity that fits into a team's occupational or career interests.'

  The authentic learning context of the project increases student motivation and satisfaction. This principle is consistent with the emphasis on school-to-work programs in many schools systems and colleges, as well as the "service" philosophy of contemporary corporate training efforts (e.g. Jacoby & Associates, 1996).