Why Student Engagement Is Important and How to Achieve It

Bored students are every teacher's worst nightmare. No one wants to look out into a classroom of students whose eyes are either glued to the clock or scrolling through Instagram. It’s also no secret that students who are engaged in their classes are more successful and perform better than their uninterested counterparts. So then the big question is, how do we keep boredom at bay in the classroom?

To get a better understanding of what keeps students engaged, Informs recently surveyed 245 students in the College of Business at James Madison University a series of questions on the topic. One of which being, “What do students like most about their learning experience in the classroom?” Three of the top answers were related to the following: engaging and interactive, real-world examples, and teamwork.

Engaging and Interactive

The student surveys said that hands-on activities and collaborative assignments were favored over lectures and bookwork. When asked what they liked least about their classroom learning experience, students listed “boring” by far and wide as the number one contributor to disengagement. 

A 2010 German study found that boredom “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. 

In the article “Bored Out of Their Minds”, published by the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Associate Professor Jal Mehta and Lecturer Todd Rose had a lot to say about the subject matter. 

Mehta, who has studied engagement extensively, says 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.”

Rose believes that the education shift needs to be more elemental. “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 very meaningful at a neurological level, at a learning level, and a behavioral level. When kids are engaged, life is so much easier.”

Real-World Examples 

Besides boring, other reasons that students gave for not liking their learning experience were the following: not passionate, too much lecture, and filling class time reading from slides.

One way to combat that boredom and mundane lecture is to bring the course material closer to home through applying the concepts to situations that students are familiar with. This helps them understand the importance of the content and, therefore, increases their motivation to learn and stay actively engaged. 

Teamwork

Working in teams is a great way to engage the classroom. Students who were surveyed said that it was an opportunity to connect with classmates that they wouldn’t have otherwise. This helped them grow their networks and find new class partners to study with.

Teamwork also helps develop and strengthen individual strengths as well as highlight their weaknesses, allowing students to hone in on obvious skillsets while polishing up on ones that need more attention. Working in teams not only aids students in academia but also helps prepare them for their professional careers.

If you’re interested in discovering new ways to increase student engagement, visit our website to find out how our interactive teaching tools can be used in your classroom.