Engagement Theory

Kearsley and Shneiderman (1999) discuss the use of engagement theory in an educational setting.  Engagement theory is one that is important to integrate into distance learning situations, as well as the traditional in-person classroom.  This semester, and for the past few semesters, I am teaching online classes.  One issue that is always a struggle is to find ways to engage students when you cannot physically speak to them and to share your passion on the topic while helping them find their own.

According to Kearsley and Shneiderman (1999), central to engagement theory is the thought that the students must be engaged in what I have assigned through “interaction with others and worthwhile tasks”.  The most important part of this is that the student is having “meaningful learning”, something that is essential.  There are three main ideas of engagement theory to (1) “occur in a group context”, (2) “are project-based”, and (3) have an outside (authentic) focus”.  

The first, “occur in group context” is focused on collaboration, which, as the authors note, is essential in the modern workplace (Kearsley and Shneiderman, 1999).  The second, “project-based” gives meaning to learning.  Instead of busywork that feels like an obligation, the project is something of the student’s choice.  It employs problem-based learning and engages the student.  The third, “outside (authentic) focus” is to make it relevant.  This is moving it beyond the classroom and having an “outside customer”.   The activity can be service based, career-based, or interest based.  All give practical experience and have a purpose (Kearsley and Shneiderman, 1999).

In education, the principles of the engagement theory are important for several reasons.  Collaboration has been shown to decrease drop-out rates, increase motivation to learn, and teaches students how to work with “divers[e] and multiple perspectives”.  I can see elements of all three in some of the classes that I have taken.  This semester, I have a class that is service project based.  We chose the topic we liked.  We paired with similarly minded individuals.  We decided to start a Healing Garden at the University of Toledo Medical Center (UTMC) for current and former cancer patients.  We chose something that we were passionate about.  For some of us, it was gardening or food access.  For others, it was a passion around cancer or cancer patients/survivors.  It is relevant and has a purpose: providing social support and opportunities for health education, to increase fresh fruit/vegetable access and consumption, and to provide a space where the patients/survivors can identify mutually as gardeners rather than with cancer as an identifier.

Engagement theory is something that could be readily applied to distance learning education because the emphasis is “individualized instruction and interactivity”.  This is something that is already happening in a distance learning setting.  One important statement that the authors make is that “[t]he difference between engagement and interactivity reflects the shift in thinking about computers in education as communication tools rather than some form of media delivery devices” (Kearsley and Shneiderman, 1999).  This blog is part of an online class.  Classroom activities include blogging and peer response, audio/video conferences, group work, and interactive media in an attempt to engage the learner.  Overall, the class has been impactful at keeping me engaged and motivated to work.  Finding ways to apply lessons to real world settings keeps it meaningful and authentic.

In the in-person classroom setting, engagement theory involves interaction and engagement, regardless of project scale.  The students can group together to think, pair, and share their thoughts on a topic or can range to semester or longer projects.  “Math students can work on problems, English students can review each other’s work, Computer Science students can develop or debug programs together, and so on” shows the applicability of the theory to a wide variety of fields (Kearsley and Shneiderman, 1999).

Kearsley and Shneiderman (1999) also discussed that there are several considerations that have not yet been fully studied, such as which age group the engagement theory benefits the greatest from the engagement theory, what skills are needed to succeed, how to prepare educators to use the theory, and class size considerations, among others.  Research on these topics will help to refine engagement theory and find the best practice.

Overall, the engagement theory is one that would benefit students if it were more widely applied.  Each teacher needs to make the determination of what is best for their class and how this theory, or other theories, can be applied to increase student-learning, engagement, and to make the skills relevant and authentic.  Applying the engagement theory expands the learning environment and improves the learning experience for the student by teaching the essential skills of collaboration around a personally meaningful topic that is given an authentic purpose.

Works cited:

Kearsley, G. and Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement theory: a framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Personal Webpage. http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm