Addressing 4 Types of Learner Engagement

What can I do to better engage my learners?

If you're an online educator, chances are you have asked this question a time or two during your instructional career.

Not all engagement looks the same. Learners regularly use four types of engagement: skills engagement (studying, listening, practicing), emotional engagement (relevance, motivation), participation engagement (having fun in class, participating in discussions), and performance engagement (doing well on projects, exams, and quizzes) (Handelsmann et al., 2005). 

Observing and accurately diagnosing gaps in learner engagement will help you determine appropriate next steps. Below are some strategies to address each of the four types of learner engagement. 

Skills engagement

• Set expectations for homework assignments and pre-work for class sessions.
• Require and integrate essential course content; provide optional content to enhance student learning.
• Build on the conversations that happened asynchronously in forums, discussion posts, or knowledge checks.

Emotional engagement

• Point out specific examples of how learning content is used in real-world settings.
• Create space to talk about personal and professional goals and experiences.
• Integrate guest speakers, case studies, and other diverse professional experiences.

Participation engagement

• Utilize live session tools such as breakout rooms to provide an environment for student community and collaboration.
• Create spaces and activities for learners to connect outside of live sessions.

Performance engagement

• Build group assignments that model real collaborations that occur in your industry.
• Provide timely and actionable feedback on student work.

As an online educator, you can create the conditions for learner engagement by selecting and assigning appropriate content, demonstrating real-world application of learning, providing various-sized groupings for students to collaborate, and incorporating meaningful ways for students to demonstrate their learning.

Handelsman, M. M., Briggs, W. L., Sullivan, N., & Towler, A. (2005). A measure of college student course engagement.

The Journal of Educational Research, 98(3), 184-192.