What is Student Engagement?

What is Student Engagement?

Student engagement is a term that is used across any learning environment but has no finite definition. Just as much as authorities have difficulty pinpointing its exact meaning, student engagement is still a struggle for many schools to fully implement into their education system. Methods that worked in the past aren’t motivating our country’s youth anymore.

So what is Student Engagement? Essentially, it is the real relationship in which a student has and interacts with their school/education. Students who are fully engaged are the ones who ask and answer questions in class, take part in extra-curricular activities, socialize with many people during their breaks, and are eager to learn and become valuable members of our society.

It is important for all students within their school, from kindergarten to college, to be both emotionally and cognitively available in the moments that they are in the classroom as well as when they’re interacting with their school outside of the teaching hours.

As an individual as well as a class, student engagement is not completely reliant on the students themselves. Faculty, staff, and even the school board all play a role in ensuring student engagement is effectively implemented into their school system. And, of course, each student may react to different forms of engagement. For example, if a student is genuinely interested in reading, they may feel more engaged when they’re able to read than in classes that are more hands-on.

The engagement that students feel towards their education, classes, curriculum, teachers, and even towards their peers decreases as they move through school. By the time a student reaches high school, up to 60% feel disengaged.

There are many repercussions for schools at every level if they aren’t able to properly engage their students. Especially at a younger age, students who are more disengaged are less likely to go to college and behavioral issues may also arise from this lack of engagement.

Boredom, isolation, poor class attendance, and retention are only a handful of the many negative effects that a lack of student engagement creates in a learning environment. Faculty and staff in colleges across the country are inadvertently adding to this growing phenomenon.

It’s important that schools utilize the growing technology to find new and innovative methods of engaging with students. When youth are at an age where mobile devices are popular, apps and other engagement software can be created to communicate with students, track their progress, and many other tasks all in the comfort of their phone.

Interested in finding out if Pronto.io could flip engagement on its head and begin bringing your students back together for effective collaboration, learning, and relationships? Reach out for a consultation today.