Arguably, the most effective—and engaging—learning environments integrate domains. The learning activities that teachers design to help students progress cognitively will be most successful if students are engaged on an affective level (they enjoy the tasks and give the tasks their full attention) and, when possible and appropriate, a kinesthetic level (students apply the theoretical and abstract by actually “doing” a physical activity). In our double helix model of engagement, teaching for “holistic” learning can contribute to synergy because it supports active learning (learners are thinking and caring about what they are doing and doing what they are thinking and caring about) and it also enhances motivation (many students find domain-spanning activities intrinsically more interesting and enjoyable, other students find domain-spanning activities necessary to be more successful learners).
Putting It All Together: The Engagement Process
We suggest that teachers can promote student engagement by using active learning techniques and by intentionally striving to increase student motivation. Teachers can promote synergy between the two by building community, targeting the appropriate challenge level, and integrating domains to teach the whole student. Students do their part by investing emotional and intellectual effort into their learning. The combined efforts of teachers and students lead to high-level learning behaviors, which, in turn, are related to improved learning outcomes. We illustrate the engagement process in Figure 4.1.
FIGURE 4.1. Overview of the Engagement Process.
Conclusion
Student engagement is complex, and the model of student engagement as the synergistic interaction between motivation and active learning is simply one contribution to an ongoing discussion of both what student engagement means and how to promote it. Motivation and active learning are twin helices that work together synergistically. Helping students feel as though they are part of a learning community, ensuring as much as possible that students are appropriately challenged, and establishing classroom conditions where students can learn holistically promote synergy because they integrate elements of both motivation and active learning. By looking for ways to contribute to the synergy, teachers can promote increased levels of student engagement. Our understanding continues to evolve and deepen as the dialogue continues. We next turn our attention to how this theoretical model plays out in the practice of the college classroom.
Part Two Tips and Strategies
THE 50 TIPS and strategies that follow build upon the conceptual framework of student engagement we shared in Part One. This framework proposes that student engagement functions as a double helix in which active learning and motivation work together synergistically, building in intensity, and creating a fluid and dynamic phenomenon that is greater than the sum of their individual effects. Engagement does not occur if one of the two elements is missing: if students are motivated but not learning, or if they are learning but doing so reluctantly, they are not engaged. Experienced on a continuum from barely to deeply engaged, students become more engaged as motivation and active learning build. Certain conditions promote synergy because they integrate elements of both. For example, students become more engaged when they feel that they are valued members of a learning community; when they are working at their optimal level of challenge—neither bored nor overwhelmed—and when they are learning holistically. The Tips and Strategies we share in this part come primarily from the literature on teaching and learning and are organized into categories corresponding to our conceptual framework.
Tips and Strategies
Chapter 5: Tips and Strategies for Fostering Motivation
1 1. Expect engagement
2 2. Develop and display the qualities of engaging teachers
3 3. Reward learning rather than behavior
4 4. Use praise and criticism effectively
5 5. Attend to students' basic needs so that they can focus on the higher level needs required for learning
6 6. Promote student autonomy
7 7. Teach things worth learning
8 8. Integrate goals, activities, and assessment
9 9. Craft engaging learning tasks
10 10. Incorporate competition appropriately
11 11. Expect students to succeed
12 12. Help students expect to succeed
13 13. Try to rebuild the confidence of discouraged and disengaged students
Chapter 6: Tips and Strategies for Promoting Active Learning
1 14. Be clear on your learning goals
2 15. Clarify your role
3 16. Orient students to their new roles
4 17. Help students develop learning strategies
5 18. Activate prior learning
6 19. Teach in ways that promote effective transfer of learning
7 20. Teach for retention
8 21. Limit and chunk information
9 22. Provide opportunities for guided practice and rehearsal
10 23. Organize lectures in ways that promote active learning
11 24. Use reverse or inverted classroom organization
12 25. Use rubrics to give learners frequent and useful feedback
Chapter 7: Tips and Strategies for Building Community
1 26. Move away from an authoritarian role
2 27. Promote class civility
3 28. Create a physical or online course environment that supports community
4 29. Reduce anonymity: Learn students' names and help students learn each other's names
5 30. Use icebreakers to warm-up the class
6 31. Use technology to extend or reinforce community
7 32. Be consciously inclusive
8 33. Subdivide large classes into smaller groupings
9 34. Involve all students in discussion
10 35. Use group work effectively
11 36. Use intermissions
12 37. Celebrate community
Chapter 8: Tips and Strategies to Help Ensure Students Are Appropriately Challenged
1 38. Assess students' starting points
2 39. Monitor class pacing
3 40. Help students learn to self-assess
4 41. Differentiate course elements to meet