Showing papers on "Student engagement published in 2012"

A systematic literature review of empirical evidence on computer games and serious games

Abstract: This paper examines the literature on computer games and serious games in regard to the potential positive impacts of gaming on users aged 14 years or above, especially with respect to learning, skill enhancement and engagement. Search terms identified 129 papers reporting empirical evidence about the impacts and outcomes of computer games and serious games with respect to learning and engagement and a multidimensional approach to categorizing games was developed. The findings revealed that playing computer games is linked to a range of perceptual, cognitive, behavioural, affective and motivational impacts and outcomes. The most frequently occurring outcomes and impacts were knowledge acquisition/content understanding and affective and motivational outcomes. The range of indicators and measures used in the included papers are discussed, together with methodological limitations and recommendations for further work in this area.

Academic Engagement and Commercialisation: A Review of the Literature on University-Industry Relations

Abstract: A considerable body of work highlights the relevance of collaborative research, contract research, consulting and informal relationships for university-industry knowledge transfer. We present a systematic review of research on academic scientists’ involvement in these activities to which we refer as ‘academic engagement’. Apart from extracting findings that are generalisable across studies, we ask how academic engagement differs from commercialization, defined as intellectual property creation and academic entrepreneurship. We identify the individual, organizational and institutional antecedents and consequences of academic engagement, and then compare these findings with the antecedents and consequences of commercialization. Apart from being more widely practiced, academic engagement is distinct from commercialization in that it is closely aligned with traditional academic research activities, and pursued by academics to access resources supporting their research agendas. We conclude by identifying future research needs, opportunities for methodological improvement and policy interventions. (Published version available via open access)

Handbook of Research on Student Engagement.

Abstract: Preface S. L. Christenson, A. L. Reschly, and C. Wylie.- SECTION I: WHAT IS STUDENT ENGAGEMENT?.- Jingle, Jangle, and Conceptual Haziness: Evolution and Future Directions of the Engagement Construct A. L. Reschly and S. L. Christenson.- Developmental Dynamics of Student Engagement, Coping, and Everyday Resilience E. A. Skinner and J. R. Pitzer.- Engagement across Developmental Periods D. Mahatmya, B. J. Lohman, J. L. Matjasko, and A. Feldman Farb.- Ethnicity and Student Engagement G. E. Bingham and L. Okagaki.- Student Engagement: What is it? Why does it matter? J. D. Finn and K. Zimmer.- Section I Commentary: So What is Student Engagement Anyway: Commentary on Section I J. Eccles and M. Wang.- SECTION II: ENGAGEMENT AS LINKED TO MOTIVATIONAL VARIABLES.- A Self-Determination Theory Perspective on Student Engagement J. Reeve.- Achievement Goal Theory, Conceptualization of ability/Intelligence, and Classroom Climate E. M. Anderman and H. Patrick.- School Identification K. E. Voelkl.- Self-Efficacy as an Engaged Learner D. H. Schunk and C. A. Mullen.- A Cyclical Self-Regulatory Account of Student Engagement: Theoretical Foundations and Applications T. J. Cleary and B. J. Zimmerman.- Academic Emotions and Student Engagement R. Pekrun and L. Linnenbrink-Garcia.- Students' Interest and Engagement in Classroom Activities M. Ainley.- Section II Commentary: Motivation and Engagement: Conceptual, Operational, and Empirical Clarity A. Martin.- SECTION III: ENGAGEMENT AND CONTEXTUAL INFLUENCES.- Parental Influences on Achievement Motivation and Student Engagement J. Bempechat and D. J. Shernoff.- Families as Facilitators of Student Engagement: Toward a Home-School Partnership Model J. N. Raftery, W. S. Grolnick, and E. S. Flamm.- Teacher-Student Relationships and Engagement: Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Improving the Capacity of Classroom Interactions R. C. Pianta, B. K. Hamre, and J. P. Allen.- The Role of Peer Relationships in Student Academic and Extracurricular Engagement J. Juvonen, G. Espinoza, and C. Knifsend.- Understanding Student Engagement with a Contextual Model S. Lam, B. P. H. Wong, H. Yang, Y. Liu.- Allowing Choice and Nurturing an Inner Compass: Educational Practices Supporting Students' Need for Autonomy A. Assor.- The Engaging Nature of Teaching for Competency Development R. Hipkins.- Assessment as a Context for Student Engagement S. Nichols and H. Dawson.- Section III Commentary: Socio-Cultural Contexts, Social Competence, and Engagement at School K. Wentzel.- SECTION IV: ENGAGEMENT AND STUDENT OUTCOMES.- The Relationship between Engagement and High School Dropout R. W. Rumberger and S. Rotermund.- High School Reform and Student Engagement M. H. Davis and J. M. McPartland.- The Power of Mindsets: Nurturing Engagement, Motivation, and Resilience in Students R. Brooks, S. Brooks, and S. Goldstein.- The Relations of Adolescent Student Engagement with Troubling and High-Risk Behaviors A. Griffiths, E. Lilles, M. Furlong, and J. Sidwha.- Trajectories and Patterns of Student Engagement: Evidence from a Longitudinal Study C. Wylie and E. Hodgen.- Instructional Contexts for Engagement and Achievement in Reading J. T. Guthrie, A. Wigfield, and W. You.- A Self-regulated Learning Perspective on Student Engagement C. A. Wolters and D. J. Taylor.- Classroom Strategies to Enhance Academic Engaged Time M. Gettinger and M. J. Walter.- Deep Engagement as a Complex System: Identity, Learning Power and Authentic Enquiry R. Deakin Crick.- Section IV Commentary: Outcomes of Engagement and Engagement as an Outcome: Some consensus, divergences and unanswered questions M. Janosz.- SECTION V: MEASUREMENT ISSUES, INSTRUMENTS, AND APPROACHES.- Measuring Student Engagement: The Development of a Scale for Formative Use C. W. Darr.- Systems Consultation: Developing the Assessment-to-Intervention Link with the Student Engagement Instrument J. J. Appleton.- Finding the Humanity in the Data: Understanding, Measuring & Strengthening Student Engagement E. Yazzie-Mintz and K. McCormick.- The Measurement of Student Engagement: A Comparative Analysis of Various Methods and Student Self-Report Instruments J. A. Fredricks and W. McColskey.- Issues and Methods in the Measurement of Student Engagement: Advancing the Construct through Statistical Modeling J. Betts.- Section V Commentary: Possible New Directions in the Measurement of Student Engagement K. Samuelsen.- Epilogue S. L. Christenson, A. L. Reschly and C. Wylie.

The relationship between frequency of Facebook use, participation in Facebook activities, and student engagement

Abstract: Educators and others are interested in the effects of social media on college students, with a specific focus on the most popular social media website-Facebook. Two previous studies have examined the relationship between Facebook use and student engagement, a construct related to positive college outcomes. However, these studies were limited by their evaluation of Facebook usage and how they measured engagement. This paper fills a gap in the literature by using a large sample (N = 2368) of college students to examine the relationship between frequency of Facebook use, participation in Facebook activities, and student engagement. Student engagement was measured in three ways: a 19-item scale based on the National Survey of Student Engagement, time spent preparing for class, and time spent in co-curricular activities. Results indicate that Facebook use was significantly negatively predictive of engagement scale score and positively predictive of time spent in co-curricular activities. Additionally, some Facebook activities were positively predictive of the dependent variables, while others were negatively predictive.

A Self-determination Theory Perspective on Student Engagement

Abstract: This chapter pursues three goals. First, it overviews ­self-­determination theory (SDT). SDT is a macrotheory of motivation comprised of five interrelated minitheories—basic needs theory, organismic integration theory, goal contents theory, cognitive evaluation theory, and causality orientations theory. Each minitheory was created to explain specific motivational phenomena and to address specific research questions. Second, the chapter uses the student-teacher dialectical framework within SDT to explain how classroom conditions sometimes support but other times neglect and frustrate students’ motivation, engagement, and positive classroom functioning. Third, the chapter highlights student engagement. In doing so, it overviews recent classroom-based, longitudinally designed research to reveal three new and important functions of student engagement—namely, that student engagement fully mediates and explains the motivation-to-achievement relation, that changes in engagement produce changes in the learning environment, and that changes in engagement produce changes in motivation, as students’ behavioral, emotional, cognitive, and agentic engagements represent actions taken not only to learn but also to meet psychological needs. The chapter concludes with implications for teachers and with suggestions for future research.

Classroom emotional climate, student engagement, and academic achievement

Abstract: The emotional connections students foster in their classrooms are likely to impact their success in school. Using a multimethod, multilevel approach, this study examined the link between classroom emotional climate and academic achievement, including the role of student engagement as a mediator. Data were collected from 63 fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms (N 1,399 students) and included classroom observations, student reports, and report card grades. As predicted, multilevel mediation analyses showed that the positive relationship between classroom emotional climate and grades was mediated by engagement, while controlling for teacher characteristics and observations of both the organizational and instructional climates of the classrooms. Effects were robust across grade level and student gender. The discussion highlights the role of classroom-based, emotion-related interactions to promote academic achievement.

Course signals at Purdue: using learning analytics to increase student success

Abstract: In this paper, an early intervention solution for collegiate faculty called Course Signals is discussed. Course Signals was developed to allow instructors the opportunity to employ the power of learner analytics to provide real-time feedback to a student. Course Signals relies not only on grades to predict students' performance, but also demographic characteristics, past academic history, and students' effort as measured by interaction with Blackboard Vista, Purdue's learning management system. The outcome is delivered to the students via a personalized email from the faculty member to each student, as well as a specific color on a stoplight -- traffic signal -- to indicate how each student is doing. The system itself is explained in detail, along with retention and performance outcomes realized since its implementation. In addition, faculty and student perceptions will be shared.

Developmental Dynamics of Student Engagement, Coping, and Everyday Resilience

Abstract: The goal of this chapter is to present a perspective on student engagement with academic work that emphasizes its role in organizing the daily school experiences of children and youth as well as their cumulative learning, long-term achievement, and eventual academic success. A model grounded in self-determination theory, and organized around student engagement and disaffection with learning activities, seems to offer promise to the study of academic development by specifying the dynamic cycles of context, self, action, and outcomes that are self-stablizing or self-amplifying, and may underlie trajectories of motivation across many school years. The study of ongoing engagement can be enriched by the incorporation of concepts of everyday resilience, focusing on what happens when students make mistakes and encounter difficulties and failures in school. The same personal and interpersonal resources that promote engagement may shape students’ reactions to challenges and obstacles, with academic coping an especially important bridge back to reengagement. Future research can examine how these motivational dynamics contribute to the development of durable academic assets, such as self-regulated learning and proactive coping, and an academic identity that allows students eventually to take ownership for their own learning and success in school.

Social Support Matters: Longitudinal Effects of Social Support on Three Dimensions of School Engagement From Middle to High School

Abstract: This study examined the relative influence of adolescents’ supportive relationships with teachers, peers, and parents on trajectories of different dimensions of school engagement from middle to high school and how these associations differed by gender and race or ethnicity. The sample consisted of 1,479 students (52% females, 56% African American). The average growth trajectories of school compliance, participation in extracurricular activities, school identification, and subjective valuing of learning decreased from 7th to 11th grades (mean ages = 12.9 years to 17.2 years). Different sources of social support were not equally important in their impact on school engagement, and the effect of these sources differed by the aspect of engagement studied. For instance, peer social support predicted adolescents’ school compliance more strongly and school identification less strongly than teacher social support.

Student engagement: What is it? Why does it matter?

Abstract: This chapter considers the relationships of student engagement with ­academic achievement, graduating from high school, and entering postsecondary schooling Older and newer models of engagement are described and critiqued, and four common components are identified Research on the relationship of each component with academic outcomes is reviewed The main themes are that engagement is essential for learning, that engagement is multifaceted with behavioral and psychological components, that engagement and disengagement are developmental and occur over a period of years, and that student engagement can be modified through school policies and practices to improve the prognoses of students at risk The chapter concludes with a 13-year longitudinal study that shows the relationships of academic achievement, behavioral and affective engagement, and dropping out of high school

The Measurement of Student Engagement: A Comparative Analysis of Various Methods and Student Self-report Instruments

Abstract: One of the challenges with research on student engagement is the large variation in the measurement of this construct, which has made it challenging to compare findings across studies. This chapter contributes to our understanding of the measurement of student in engagement in three ways. First, we describe strengths and limitations of different methods for assessing student engagement (i.e., self-report measures, experience sampling techniques, teacher ratings, interviews, and observations). Second, we compare and contrast 11 self-report survey measures of student engagement that have been used in prior research. Across these 11 measures, we describe what is measured (scale name and items), use of measure, samples, and the extent of reliability and validity information available on each measure. Finally, we outline limitations with current approaches to measurement and promising future directions.

Academic Emotions and Student Engagement

Abstract: Emotions are ubiquitous in academic settings, and they profoundly affect students’ academic engagement and performance. In this chapter, we summarize the extant research on academic emotions and their linkages with students’ engagement. First, we outline relevant concepts of academic emotion, including mood as well as achievement, epistemic, topic, and social emotions. Second, we discuss the impact of these emotions on students’ cognitive, motivational, behavioral, cognitive-behavioral, and social-behavioral engagement and on their academic performance. Next, we examine the origins of students’ academic emotions in terms of individual and contextual variables. Finally, we highlight the complexity of students’ emotions, focusing on reciprocal causation as well as regulation and treatment of these emotions. In conclusion, we discuss directions for future research, with a special emphasis on the need for educational intervention research targeting emotions.

Teacher-Student Relationships and Engagement: Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Improving the Capacity of Classroom Interactions

Abstract: Classrooms are complex social systems, and student-teacher relationships and interactions are also complex, multicomponent systems. We posit that the nature and quality of relationship interactions between teachers and students are fundamental to understanding student engagement, can be assessed through standardized observation methods, and can be changed by providing teachers knowledge about developmental processes relevant for classroom interactions and personalized feedback/support about their interactive behaviors and cues. When these supports are provided to teachers’ interactions, student engagement increases. In this chapter, we focus on the theoretical and empirical links between interactions and engagement and present an approach to intervention designed to increase the quality of such interactions and, in turn, increase student engagement and, ultimately, learning and development. Recognizing general principles of development in complex systems, a theory of the classroom as a setting for development, and a theory of change specific to this social setting are the ultimate goals of this work. Engagement, in this context, is both an outcome in its own right and a mediator of impacts that teachers have on student outcomes through their interactions with children and youth. In light of this discussion, we offer suggestions or directions for further research in this area.

Jingle, Jangle, 1 and Conceptual Haziness 2 : Evolution and Future Directions of the Engagement Construct

Abstract: This chapter serves as an introduction to the history and study of student engagement. We describe the evolution of the construct of engagement and disciplinary differences in theories and use of the engagement construct. We highlight how our work on engagement, arising out of dropout intervention, has changed over the last decade. In addition, we delineate current issues in the study of engagement. The chapter ends with a discussion of future directions to advance the theoretical and applied use of student engagement to enhance outcomes for youth.

Jingle, Jangle, and Conceptual Haziness: Evolution and Future Directions of the Engagement Construct

Abstract: This chapter serves as an introduction to the history and study of student engagement. We describe the evolution of the construct of engagement and disciplinary differences in theories and use of the engagement construct. We highlight how our work on engagement, arising out of dropout intervention, has changed over the last decade. In addition, we delineate current issues in the study of engagement. The chapter ends with a discussion of future directions to advance the theoretical and applied use of student engagement to enhance outcomes for youth.

Adolescent Behavioral, Emotional, and Cognitive Engagement Trajectories in School and Their Differential Relations to Educational Success.

Abstract: The current study used a multidimensional approach to examine developmental trajectories of three dimension of school engagement (school participation, sense of school belonging, and self-regulated learning) from grades 7 to 11 and their relationships to changes in adolescents’ academic outcomes over time. The sample includes 1,148 African American and European American adolescents (52% females, 56% black, 34% white, and 10% others). As expected, the downward trajectories of change in school participation, sense of belonging to school, and self-regulated learning differed as did their predictive relationships with academic performance and educational aspiration, with school belonging declining most markedly, but being least predictive of changes in grade point average.

Situational Interest, Computer Self-Efficacy and Self-Regulation: Their Impact on Student Engagement in Distance Education.

Abstract: This study investigates possible relationships among motivational and learning variables (interest, self-efficacy and self-regulation) and three types of student engagement (behavioural engagement, emotional engagement and cognitive engagement) in a distance education setting. Participants were 203 students enrolled in online classes in the fall semester of 2008 in the Schools of Gerontology and Engineering at a large research university in the south-western USA, who completed an online survey assessing their levels of situational interest, computer self-efficacy, self-regulation and engagement in distance education. Situational interest and self-regulation were found to be significantly correlated with three types of engagement (behavioural, emotional and cognitive), while computer self-efficacy did not appear to be associated with any of those engagement variables. Results suggested that online activities and tools such as multimedia and discussion boards may increase emotional engagement in online learning, although they do not necessarily increase behavioural or cognitive engagement, that educators should identify students who are taking online courses for the first time and provide necessary technical help to increase their emotional engagement, and that it is important for educators to offer students strategies for increasing their self-regulation in distance education environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Flipped Classroom: Online Instruction at Home Frees Class Time for Learning

Abstract: Four years ago, in the shadow of Colorado's Pike's Peak, veteran Woodland Park High School chemistry teachers Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams stumbled onto an idea. Struggling to find the time to reteach lessons for absent students, they plunked down $50, bought software that allowed them to record and annotate lessons, and posted them online. Absent students appreciated the opportunity to see what they missed. But, surprisingly, so did students who hadn't missed class. They, too, used the online material, mostly to review and reinforce classroom lessons. And, soon, Bergmann and Sams realized they had the opportunity to radically rethink how they used class time. It's called "the flipped classroom." While there is no one model, the core idea is to flip the common instructional approach: With teacher-created videos and interactive lessons, instruction that used to occur in class is now accessed at home, in advance of class. Class becomes the place to work through problems, advance concepts, and engage in collaborative learning. Most importantly, all aspects of instruction can be rethought to best maximize the scarcest learning resource--time. Flipped classroom teachers almost universally agree that it's not the instructional videos on their own, but how they are integrated into an overall approach, that makes the difference. In his classes, Bergmann says, students can't just "watch the video and be done with it." He checks their notes and requires each student to come to class with a question. And, while he says it takes a little while for students to get used to the system, as the year progresses he sees them asking better questions and thinking more deeply about the content. After flipping his classroom, Bergmann says he can more easily query individual students, probe for misconceptions around scientific concepts, and clear up incorrect notions. Counterintuitively, Bergmann says the most important benefits of the video lessons are profoundly human: "I now have time to work individually with students. I talk to every student in every classroom every day." Traditional classroom interactions are also flipped. Typically, the most outgoing and engaged students ask questions, while struggling students may act out Bergmann notes that he now spends more time with struggling students, who no longer give up on homework, but work through challenging problems in class. Advanced students have more freedom to learn independently. And, while high-school students still occasionally lapse on homework assignments, Bergmann credits the new arrangement with fostering better relationships, greater student engagement, and higher levels of motivation. Once Bergmann's and Sams's lessons were posted online, it wasn't long before other students and teachers across the country were using the lessons, and making their own. Across the country in Washington, D.C, Andrea Smith, a 6th-grade math teacher at E. L. Haynes, a high-performing public charter school, shares Bergmann's enthusiasm, but focuses on a different aspect of the flipped classroom. Smith, who has taught for more than a decade in both D.C.'s public charter and traditional district schools, immediately saw the benefit for students, but says she was most captivated by the opportunity to elevate teaching practice and the profession as a whole. As Smith explains, crafting a great four- to six-minute video lesson poses a tremendous instructional challenge: how to explain a concept in a clear, concise, bite-sized chunk. Creating her own videos forces her to pay attention to the details and nuances of instruction--the pace, the examples used, the visual representation, and the development of aligned assessment practices. In a video lesson on dividing fractions, for example, Smith is careful not to just teach the procedure--multiply by the inverse--but also to represent the important underlying conceptual ideas. …

From Gatekeeping to Engagement: A Multicontextual, Mixed Method Study of Student Academic Engagement in Introductory STEM Courses

Abstract: The lack of academic engagement in introductory science courses is considered by some to be a primary reason why students switch out of science majors. This study employed a sequential, explanatory mixed methods approach to provide a richer understanding of the relationship between student engagement and introductory science instruction. Quantitative survey data were drawn from 2,873 students within 73 introductory science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses across 15 colleges and universities, and qualitative data were collected from 41 student focus groups at eight of these institutions. The findings indicate that students tended to be more engaged in courses where the instructor consistently signaled an openness to student questions and recognizes her/his role in helping students succeed. Likewise, students who reported feeling comfortable asking questions in class, seeking out tutoring, attending supplemental instruction sessions, and collaborating with other students in the course were also more likely to be engaged. Instructional implications for improving students' levels of academic engagement are discussed.

Mindfulness Training and Teachers' Professional Development: An Emerging Area of Research and Practice

Abstract: This article focuses on how mindfulness training (MT) programs for teachers, by cultivating mindfulness and its application to stress management and the social-emotional demands of teaching, represent emerging forms of teacher professional development (PD) aimed at improving teaching in public schools. MT is hypothesized to promote teachers' “habits of mind,” and thereby their occupational health, well-being, and capacities to create and sustain both supportive relationships with students and classroom climates conducive to student engagement and learning. After defining mindfulness and its potential applications in teacher education and PD, this article discusses emerging MT programs for teachers, a logic model outlining potential MT program effects in educational settings, and directions for future research.

Instructional Contexts for Engagement and Achievement in Reading

Abstract: In this chapter, we review research on students’ engagement in reading activities and how classroom instructional practices influence engagement in reading and other academic activities. We define engaged readers as motivated to read, strategic in their approaches to reading, knowledgeable in their construction of meaning from text, and socially interactive while reading. We present a conceptual model of reading engagement linking classroom practices directly and indirectly to students’ motivation to read, behavioral engagement in reading, and reading achievement. A major premise of this model is that behavioral engagement in reading mediates the effects of classroom practices on reading outcomes. We present evidence from a variety of experimental and correlational studies documenting the direct and indirect links among classroom practices, motivation, behavioral engagement, and achievement outcomes. One reading comprehension instructional program on which we focus is Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction. This program integrates strategy instruction and instructional practices to foster students’ reading motivation, and teaches reading, in particular, in content domains such as science and social studies.

Longitudinal Test of Self-Determination Theory's Motivation Mediation Model in a Naturally Occurring Classroom Context

Abstract: This study provides the first longitudinally designed, classroom-based empirical test of self-determination theory's motivation mediation model. Measures of perceived autonomy support, motivation (autonomy need satisfaction), engagement, and achievement were collected from 500 (257 females, 243 males) 8th-grade students in Korea in a 3-wave longitudinal research design. Multilevel structural equation modeling tested the model in which early-semester perceived autonomy support increased mid-semester autonomy need satisfaction, which, in turn, increased end-of-the-semester engagement, which then predicted course achievement. We further tested for possible reciprocal pathways and for the stability of all effects throughout the model. Results revealed a complex, dynamic model that unfolds within naturally occurring classroom processes, one that validated the hypothesized model but also extended and qualified it in important ways. All hypothesized effects were supported, but they were not stable over the course of the semester, largely because of the emergence of several reciprocal effects. Overall, this longitudinal test revealed a more dynamic model than suggested by previous cross-sectional investigations.

Teachers' relatedness with students: An underemphasized component of teachers' basic psychological needs.

Abstract: Using a self-determination theory (SDT) framework, we explored the relationship between the satisfaction of teachers' basic psychological needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence and their self-reported levels of teaching-related engagement, emotions, and emotional exhaustion In particular, we tested a 2-component model of teachers' need for relatedness, with representation of the need for relatedness with students and the need for relatedness with colleagues One thousand and forty-nine teachers participated in 3 studies In Study 1 (n = 409), we tested a model that examined how perceptions of autonomy support are associated with teachers' relatedness with colleagues and students and how relatedness subsequently predicts teaching engagement and emotional exhaustion In Study 2 (n = 455), we tested a full SDT model, hypothesizing that perceptions of autonomy support lead to satisfaction of teachers' needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness with colleagues and students, which in turn lead to teachers' engagement and expression of emotions (anxiety, anger, and enjoyment) In Study 3 (n = 185), we used scenarios to test participants' beliefs about 2 hypothesized teachers, 1 with high student and low peer relatedness and the other with low student and high peer relatedness Results from the 3 studies consistently emphasize the finding that for teachers, satisfaction of the need for relatedness with students leads to higher levels of engagement and positive emotions, and lower levels of negative emotions, than does satisfaction of the need for relatedness with peers

Pay attention!: designing adaptive agents that monitor and improve user engagement

Abstract: Embodied agents hold great promise as educational assistants, exercise coaches, and team members in collaborative work. These roles require agents to closely monitor the behavioral, emotional, and mental states of their users and provide appropriate, effective responses. Educational agents, for example, will have to monitor student attention and seek to improve it when student engagement decreases. In this paper, we draw on techniques from brain-computer interfaces (BCI) and knowledge from educational psychology to design adaptive agents that monitor student attention in real time using measurements from electroencephalography (EEG) and recapture diminishing attention levels using verbal and nonverbal cues. An experimental evaluation of our approach showed that an adaptive robotic agent employing behavioral techniques to regain attention during drops in engagement improved student recall abilities 43% over the baseline regardless of student gender and significantly improved female motivation and rapport. Our findings offer guidelines for developing effective adaptive agents, particularly for educational settings.

Numbers are not enough. Why e-learning analytics failed to inform an institutional strategic plan

Abstract: Learning analytics offers higher education valuable insights that can inform strategic decision-making regarding resource allocation for educational excellence. Research demonstrates that learning management systems (LMSs) can increase student sense of community, support learning communities and enhance student engagement and success, and LMSs have therefore become core enterprise component in many universities. We were invited to undertake a current state analysis of enterprise LMS use in a large research-intensive university, to provide data to inform and guide an LMS review and strategic planning process. Using a new e-learning analytics platform, combined with data visualization and participant observation, we prepared a detailed snapshot of current LMS use patterns and trends and their relationship to student learning outcomes. This paper presents selected data from this "current state analysis" and comments on what it reveals about the comparative effectiveness of this institution's LMS integration in the service of learning and teaching. More critically, it discusses the reality that the institutional planning process was nonetheless dominated by technical concerns, and made little use of the intelligence revealed by the analytics process. To explain this phenomenon we consider theories of change management and resistance to innovation, and argue that to have meaningful impact, learning analytics proponents must also delve into the socio-technical sphere to ensure that learning analytics data are presented to those involved in strategic institutional planning in ways that have the power to motivate organizational adoption and cultural change.