When students are engaged with course content, they are actively involved in the learning process and constructing their own knowledge (Delialioglu, 2012). Instructors who engage students make learning meaningful, gain and keep their attention, and motivate them to pursue excellence. Engagement strategies include setting clear expectations, implementing collaborative learning activities, providing student choices, discussing the relevance of content and activities, and asking thought-provoking questions during class.
Use the comments section below to let us know your ideas about student engagement.
Through Trowler’s 2010 literature review, she found that “robust relationships have been established over time between students’ investment of time, effort and interest in a range of educationally-oriented activities, and favorable outcomes such as increased performance, persistence, and satisfaction” (p. 34)
Use a variety of active learning strategies such as:
Chunking lecture content into 15-minute segments with quick thinks or audience response questions (poll everywhere) in between each segment
Using Think-Pair-Share activities – ask the students a question and give them time to construct answer, then turn to a neighbor to discuss answer, and finally share out with the whole class
Implementing case-based, team-based, or problem-based learning
At the beginning of the course or new assignment/activity, set clear expectations of student performance. This should include a discussion of the relevance of the content and activity.
