Engagement
Inspired // Challenged // Connected
In my own experiences as a student, there has been a clear pattern: when I took “easy” or remedial level classes, my grades were always worse than when I took “difficult” or more advanced classes.
When I started kindergarten, my attention span for things I didn’t care about (like learning multiplication tables) was only a few seconds. On the other hand, I was already reading at a fourth grade level. In high school, I could write a 12-page research essay on the economic and political relationship between the US and China without any issue, but I struggled to complete a one-page chemistry worksheet.
I was eventually diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 27. This finally helped to explain why I am so incredibly focused and self-motivated when I’m excited about something, but often find it monumentally difficult to focus on more menial tasks.
Though my individual experience obviously doesn’t represent everyone’s experience, it has made me think a lot about why it is so easy for me to learn in certain contexts and almost impossible in others.
For me, the key is engagement.
Once I was alerted to the concept of “hard fun,” I began listening for it and heard it over and over.
Let's Define Engagement!
Engagement is:
- Feeling connected to and invested in the learning process
- Being appropriately challenged
- Wanting to learn more
- Considering how what they are learning connects to their other ideas and interests
Engagement is not:
- Feeling bored and disconnected from the learning process
- Being forced to look at a page or click a certain number of things to prove “engagement”
- Only taking part in a course because it is required
- Once the test or quiz is over, never thinking about the material again
Why is engagement important?
In my experience, when a student is disengaged from the learning process, there are two typical outcomes:
- The student is “good enough at school” to BS their way through, or they are motivated enough by other factors to push through and get a good grade. However, they don’t really retain the information.
- The student fails. They get a bad grade, they don’t learn anything, and they are even less motivated to try to learn in the future.
When a student is truly engaged, they can:
- Learn more quickly. When a topic is interesting and/or presented in a fun way, it’s easier to stay focused and engaged.
- Retain more information. When a student is genuinely interested in a topic, it’s much easier for them to naturally remember and apply what they’ve learned later.
- Feel inspired to continue learning and make new connections. When a student is able to discover a new passion or interest, they may continue to explore a topic outside of the classroom/learning environment. This is the ideal outcome!
My approach to engaging learners
Present information in a variety of ways (e.g. audio, visual, kinesthetic, etc). This makes it easier for students with different strengths and needs to engage with what they’re learning!
Make the learning experience enjoyable. This will look super different depending on the audience and the product, and can include design elements, games, and/or humor. (The visual elements of this website are an example of this – the images of plants and nature don’t add meaning, but they make the website more appealing to look at!)
Use storytelling. Good stories are entertaining and can help students care and relate to what they’re learning on a human level.
Provide context. If a student knows why they are learning something and how they might apply what they learn in the future, that can help them see the value in what they’re learning.
Encourage students to discover and follow their interests. Not all students will be equally interested in any particular topic. If they can connect what they’re learning to their pre-existing special interests, it can help them develop their own unique point of view, provide context, and encourage making connections across different disciplines.
As an instructional designer, how do I get engagement in a digital context?
Experiment with different tools. Every project will be different, and there are always new digital tools being created. Matching the right format to the project, rather than sticking to what I already know, will create better learning experiences.
Design learning experiences that are beautiful and joyful. I want to design learning experiences that draw the learner in and make them want to learn more. Each project will have a different aesthetic that supports and enhances the content being presented.
Include a human element. Digital spaces can feel sterile and “successful engagement” is frequently measured by tedious quizzes or time requirements. Including humor, honesty, stories, and more creative and open-ended assessments can help make the experience more fun and meaningful.
Provide as much agency and choice as possible. By providing different routes through the material and different ways of engaging with the information, I can make learning experiences more accessible and engaging.