Examining Student Engagement at Illinois State University:
An Exploratory Investigation
Valeri
Farmer-Dougan, Departments of Psychology and Biology
Kathleen
McKinney, Cross Chair in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and
Professor of Sociology
Defining Engagement:
- Student engagement is an often discussed but difficult to defined variable
related to student success. When asked, most, if not all faculty and students
agree that engagement is a highly desirable trait for collegiate academics.
However, defining what variables represent engagement is much more difficult.
- Focus groups conducted at Illinois State during 1999 and 2000 showed
that faculty and students differed greatly when asked to define "engagement".
Answers ranged "attending classes" to "a strong commitment
and dedication to college life". However, most agreed that engagement
was the degree to which students actively participated in and initiated
scholarly interactions, rather than purely social, interactions, in both
formal and informal academic settings.
- "Goals" suggested by Freshman in Foundations of Inquiry: 30
students from a representative Foundations of Inquiry Freshman Seminar
class listed their most important goals which they hoped to attain during
their first year in college:
- make friends
- have fun
- study better
- become more open-minded
- think on my feet faster
- support ideas and opinions better
- have a better understanding of what learning and thought processes
are, and how I learn and think best
- develop critical thinking skills
- debate skillfully
- improve my ability to speak publicly (and convincingly)
- learn to access and understand an opposing view
- decide on a major
- become better organized in my ways of research and thinking
- improve my writing skills (especially papers)
- improve my reading skills (especially dissecting what I read)
- improve my listening skills (listen to what people are REALLY saying)
- improve my research skills and how I support my opinions
- think independently- and learn to support and defend what I think
- be part of research and new knowledge
- improve my deductive logic
- gain a better understanding of modern society
- learn to learn, not because I have to
- make good contacts
- expand my horizons and challenge myself
- improve my research ideas and thoughts
- write a good fairy tale
- improve my computer skills
- become a scholar
- overcome my fear of college life
- feel secure in my future (college)(life) plans
An Empirical Investigation: To empirically test how and
what students use as a definition of engagement, we conducted a student survey
during spring semester, 2000.
- 1000 students were chosen from the pool of currently enrolled students,
such that an equal number of students from each class were represented
across the six colleges of Illinois State. Invitations to participate were
mailed and emailed to these students. Students could log into the Illinois
State system and complete a survey on student.
- 178 students completed the 134-item.
- The survey included items addressing: a) demographic information; b)
classroom and study behavior; c) behavioral definitions of engagement developed
from faculty-student focus groups; d) a college satisfaction survey; and
d) the Class Description and Growth Needs Strength Survey (CDS) (Nordstrom,
Williams & Walzcynski, 1999).
- Data Analysis:
- The analysis of student responses (using a series of stepwise multiple
regressions and MANOVAs) suggested that the degree to which a student
was engaged at Illinois State was predicted by five variables:
- enrollment in classes which used or required use of computers;
- satisfaction with grade compensation;
- ability to deal with other students;
- task identity; and
- preferred class discussion format.
- When dividing students into high, moderate or low engagement groups,
three factors appear to be most critical:
- enrollment in classes using technology;
- ability to deal with other students; and
- satisfaction with grade compensation.
Conclusions: Our data analysis suggested
- Class format impacts Student Engagement: A positive
correlation between a preference for classes using a discussion format
and high engagement was found. This may be a direct reflection of the degree
of involvement required in that class by a student. Students who were more
likely to take an active role in their academic life appeared to prefer
classrooms student input was required. One can assume that discussion format
classes were more likely to provide greater chances for individual input
than lecture format classes, and thus were more strongly preferred by highly
engaged students. Given these results, future investigations might examine
the effects of early exposure to discussion formats (e.g., in courses like
Foundations of Inquiry) on a student's level of engagement throughout his
or her academic career. Perhaps exposing students to more interaction formats
early in their college career could increase the degree of engagement.
- Grade Satisfaction is related to Engagement. Students
who reported themselves as highly engaged were more likely to report higher
satisfaction with grade compensation. Several possibilities may account
for this relation. First, these students may have made more contact with
professors, fellow students and academic life in general, resulting in
a better basis for understanding why they have received the grade that
they did. Interestingly GPA was not significantly correlated with engagement,
suggesting that this satisfaction is not directly tied to high grades,
but the satisfaction with the grade received. However, one caution should
be noted with our results: Only overall GPA was used, and as this is a
composite, our results cannot tell us about student behavior across individual
courses. Students may be willing to accept lower grades in courses for
which they feel less engaged, while earning higher grades in courses for
which they feel more engaged. Future research should thus further investigate
this relationship.
- Task Identity is important for Student Engagement. Task
identity describes familiarity or comfort of a classroom task for an individual
student. Interestingly, the correlation between task identity and engagement
was opposite of our predictions. High task identity was correlated with
lower engagement levels. This could reflect risk taking on the part of
the engaged student, in that students who are highly engaged are more likely
to try new tasks, while those who are less engaged stay with traditional
and familiar tasks. Follow-up studies may want to assess the basis for
this relationship and determine the degree to which high engaged versus
low engaged students take courses which are new or require the learning
of new rather than refinement of old skills.
- Use of Computers impacts Student Engagement. Students
who reported high engagement also reported that their courses required
more computer use. Two possible effects potentially explain this relationship.
First, highly engaged students may have been more likely to enroll in courses
that require the use of computers either in or out of class. Conversely,
courses that required the use of computers may have forced students to
engage in a higher level of participation than non-computer use classes.
Again, future studies should investigate this relationship in more detail.
- Peer Relationships are important for Student Engagement. Finally,
our data showed a fairly strong relationship between engagement and the
ability to deal with other students. Students who reported a higher ability
to deal with other students also tended to be highly engaged. It can be
hypothesized that these students were more likely to have higher general
social skills, and thus a better ability to deal with peers and others.
However, these data also suggest that assisting students with peer relationships
both inside and outside the classroom may be important for increasing student
engagement. Those students who have difficulty getting along with peers
in small group work, during class discussions, etc., are less likely to
be engaged. Faculty and the administration should attend to students' ability
to interact appropriately. Classroom rules and etiquette may be more than
just classroom control. These skills may directly impact the degree to
which students are engaged.
