Engagement theory

Draft

Definition

• Engagement is a concept that is not restricted to technology-based learning activities. Back in 1988, Meece et al. (1988) set a model for cognitive engagement in the classroom. Engagement from an educational point of view is seen as the learner participation, and interaction with the learning material, learning activities, and the learning community.
• O’Brien, H.L. & Toms, E.G.( 2008) set a conceptual framework defining user-engagement with technology. The framework explores the experience of users interacting with technology-based systems not limited to educational applications. The work resulted in a definition of engagement and a conceptual model that could be used in various application areas, including technology-based learning or citizen science projects, etc. According to O’Brien, H.L. & Toms, E.G., "Engagement is a quality of user experiences with technology that is characterized by challenge, aesthetic and sensory appeal, feedback, novelty, interactivity, perceived control and time, awareness, motivation, interest, and affect". The resulting conceptual model of engagement distinguishes 4 possible phases through an engagement process: The user initiates and sustains engagement a task, he disengages, and potentially reengages several times during a single interaction with a system.

• the Engagement Theory is a framework for technology-based teaching and learning (Kearsley & Schneiderman, 1999). Its fundamental underlying idea is that students must be meaningfully engaged in learning activities through interaction with others and worthwhile tasks. While in principle, such engagement could occur without the use of technology, Kearsley and Schneiderman believe that technology can facilitate engagement in ways which are difficult to achieve otherwise. The general conceptual framework proposed by O'Brien and Toms joins the Engagement Theory on the importance of the self-directed, meaningful involvement with materials or applications based on cognitive challenge and motivation.

The model

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

(Kearsley & Schneiderman, 1999).

• Relate emphasizes team work (communication, management, planning, social skills)
• Create emphasizes creativity and purpose. Students have to define (or at least identify in terms of a problem domain) and execute a project in context
• Donate stresses usefulness of the outcome (ideally each project has an outside "customer" that the project is being conducted for).

References

• Kearsley, G. & Schneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement theory: A framework for technology-based learning and teaching. Originally at http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm. Retrieved 14:42, 11 September 2006 (MEST) from google cache.

• Kearsley, G. (1997). The Virtual Professor: A Personal Case Study. [1]

• Shneiderman, B. (1994) Education by Engagement and Construction: Can Distance Education be Better than Face-to-Face? [2]

• Shneiderman, B. (1988), Relate-Create-Donate: An educational philosophy for the cyber-generation. Computers & Education, in press.

• Shneiderman, B., Alavi, M., Norman, K. & Borkowski, E. (Nov 1995). Windows of opportunity in electronic classrooms, Communications of the ACM, 38(11), 19-24.

• Miliszewska, Iwona and John Horwood. 2006. Engagement theory: a universal paradigm?. In Proceedings of the 37th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education (SIGCSE '06). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 158-162. DOI=10.1145/1121341.1121392 http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1121341.1121392