Student Engagement in Learning and Teaching

Abstract

How shall we engage the students of 2015 in learning and teaching? In this exploration of student engagement, a model is proposed to help answer this question. The model is based on the idea that students are engaged when their emotional, behavioural and cognitive processes are all activated to achieve a learning outcome. Engagement is diminished when any one or more of these elements is missing; students not emotionally engaged are probably bored, students not behaviourally engaged are passive, and students not cognitively engaged are simply memorising facts. When all three elements are activated we can be confident that students are engaged in learning.