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Why Student Engagement is Important and How to Increase It
March 10, 2021
Student engagement is a significant challenge for educators who are teaching students remotely. Getting students to engage in learning, not to mention show up for class, is something teachers are working hard to improve. Student engagement is vital to meaningful education and retention of knowledge. The Corona Generation of students has lost many months of learning due to the pandemic. Engagement will play a key role in efforts to recover this lost learning.
Engagement “is a measure of how much we are attending to a purpose, task, or activity. When it comes to learning, engagement is influenced by a learner’s level of motivation, focus and cognitive ability as well as online course design and a teacher’s decisions regarding facilitation style” [1].
The #1 contributor to disengagement in students is boredom with their learning experience. Being bored “instigates a desire to escape from the situation that causes boredom. Coincidentally, more than half of the students who drop out of school in the U.S. site boredom as their primary reason” [2]. Harvard Graduate School of Education, Associate Professor Jal Mehta, and Lecturer Todd Rose have studied engagement extensively. Mehta believes that “we have to stop seeing boredom as a frilly side effect. It is a central issue. Engagement is a precondition for learning, he adds. No learning happens until students agree to become engaged with the material” [3]. Rose says that “we need to get away from thinking that the opposite of ‘bored’ is ‘entertained.’ It’s ‘engaged. It’s not about pumping cartoons and virtual reality games into the classroom – it’s about finding ways to make the curriculum more resonant, personalized, and meaningful for every student. Engagement is significant at a neurological level, at a learning level, and a behavioral level” [4].
Increased levels of engagement show statistical improvements in learning. “Engaged students are 2.5 times more likely to say that they get excellent grades and do well in school, and they are 4.5 times more likely to be hopeful about the future than their actively disengaged peers” [5]. Engaged students also “demonstrate stronger satisfaction with learning experiences, stronger achievement in courses and increased graduation rates” [6]. A consistent finding in research on student engagement is that teachers have an enormous impact on the student experience and engagement levels [7].
Ways that teacher can influence student engagement online include:
Post regular announcements
Reply early and often
Vary communication tools to suit the student they are reaching out to
Use feedback to build personal relationships
Hold office hours
Assign group projects
Live video lectures where engagement is fostered and encouraged
Use prompts to spark discussions, debate, or deeper learning [8]
Being an engaged teacher online will positively influence increased engagement in students.
How to Easily Launch an Online Learning Platform That Increases Student Engagement
The sudden switch to online education rattled students and teachers alike. With little to no training, teachers are learning as they go. The challenge facing teachers in K-12 schools about engaging students is particularly tough. What can schools do to help teachers increase student engagement?
The answer? Partner with a company that provides world-class online learning platforms designed to engage.
Here are some key elements of an online learning platform that will increase engagement:
Custom branded platform and content specific to your school
Easy to use and intuitive social media-inspired interface design to influence students to engage with other student and teacher posts
Community building platform features like discussion boards and video conferencing capabilities
Easy integration with other learning tools
AI and advanced data analytics to provide insights into students learning
An online learning platform built specifically to engage learners will help teachers capture students’ attention and get them excited to learn! To recover the lost learning, teachers will need every bit of help to increase engagement and drive improved learning outcomes. That help starts with providing them with the right tools, like an online learning platform that works with them and not against them.
Amesite Offers a Single, Easy to Use, Scalable Solution
Launch an online learning platform that increases student engagement and aids in lost learning recovery.
Amesite is specifically designed for engaged learning and has a retention rate of 98% across all sectors. This is an unprecedented number and speaks to the very high level of engagement that Amesite’s platform offers. The platform provides unparalleled ease of use, features that build communication and engagement, and compelling custom content.
Artificial intelligence drives some of the most compelling experiences on the internet, and Amesite brings these tools to education in a novel and transformative way.
Amesite’s product is easy to acquire, use and scale and offers:
A branded, customized platform that’s scalable and cost-effective
An engaging and intuitive platform with a social media inspired design
Seamless integration with top learning tools
System launches in 24 hours and entire curricula is ready in 30 days
Complete customer support on an easy-to-use platform that reduces administrative burdens allowing more one on one time with students
Best-in-class technology that offers easy integration of top learning tools in one place
By correlating learner behaviors with specific outcomes identified by qualified instructors, Amesite trains its algorithms specifically for essential learning outcomes, enabling it to be a useful tool for instructors. The combinations of information collected through Amesite’s educational products and outcomes measured using our online learning products are easy to use and implement and will provide insights to enable increased student engagement.
Let us help increase student engagement and beat your learning recovery goals today! Request a Demo!
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