A school must be a safe and adequate space for learning. Student engagement is critical to achieving knowledge. This means assigning equal meaning to educational content, and how we present it to students is also essential.
Because student engagement tends to be low, teachers need new teaching alternatives. There’s a growing need to increase student participation in class in this fast-paced world.
Let’s explore why student engagement is essential for learning and how to improve it in the classroom.
What is Student Engagement?
Student engagement is the student’s attitudes towards school, interpersonal relationships within the institution, and disposition towards learning. It manifests through a feeling of connection and participation in school activities.
Student engagement implies that the students:
- Participate in academic and non-academic activities.
- Form friendships and healthy relationships with classmates.
- Have better relationships with teachers and academic staff.
- Develop a sense of belonging.
- Relate with the institution and its values.
- Feel acceptance, inclusion, and support from other people in the educational institution.
Student engagement is an active commitment to pay attention, complete assignments, and find value in their academic performance at school. So, students must consider the lessons relevant to their short-term and long-term goals.
Student engagement benefits
Student engagement is considered a possible cure for demotivation and low student performance. It is possible to modify student engagement with external influences and adjustments in the school environment. By using measures and tools to meet students’ needs, teachers can promote student engagement.
Some benefits of student engagement in a school environment are:
- Increased opportunities for their participation
- Improvement in your uplifting interpersonal relationships
- Best Intellectual Challenges
Various studies have highlighted the effects of the involvement of female and male students in their educational processes. Studies show that participation indicates achievement in multiple areas of school life.
In general terms, engaged students appear to believe their educational experience is relevant to their future. They are more willing to learn not only during their time at school but also throughout their life cycle.
Although student engagement is usually associated with high academic performance, persistence, and permanence in secondary education, a sense of belonging and participation are educational outcomes that positively influence comprehensive health and well-being, which is why they are as important as performance and permanence.
Increasing Student Engagement
Maintaining students’ attention in the classroom is essential to ensure good academic performance and encourage the achievement of their school goals.
Currently, a great variety of teaching methodologies allow adapting to the constantly changing needs of the students, promoting goal achievement. It is essential to evaluate innovative learning activities that will enable interaction with technologies to increase the possibilities of student participation.
The tools teachers use depend on their goals with a specific activity, their teaching style, and the students’ attributes. Some recommended tools to promote involvement in learning experiences and to increase the value of education are interactive with the help of new technologies, such as classroom response systems.
Initially, technological gadgets were seen as an obstacle to teaching. In fact, the use of technology without supervision can be distracting for students. But then it remains to ask ourselves, what does technology have to engage students, and how can we replicate it for the learning process?
The digital age has revolutionized every aspect of our daily lives, and education is no different. Let’s remember educational technology is the set of information and communication resources, processes and tools applied to the structure and activities of the educational system in its various fields and levels.
Technology in the classroom for Student Engagement
Technology can foster collaboration with students in the same room, school, and other classrooms worldwide. Additionally, teachers and students can develop essential skills by using technology in the classroom.
It’s a common assumption that adding pieces of technology to the classroom will be distracting to students. After all, our phones are a constant source of distraction from our academic and professional lives.
With most classrooms and jobs moved online, however, we are losing the opportunity to choose to omit technology from the school. Because technology is becoming more mandatory in every learning environment, you must know how to incorporate it to engage the classroom appropriately.
Using tools for learning in the techniques or study plans allows a better development in the students and better performance. Therefore, those who use them tend to be the most outstanding in the academic field.
Some of the technological tools that we can currently find in classrooms are:
- Information exchange platforms.
- Digital platforms for student-teacher collaboration.
- Digital notebooks.
- Interactive digital whiteboards.
- Classes via videoconference.
- Audios or podcasts.
- Questionnaires or polls.
As educators strive to engage students in the learning process more directly with active learning, they need to include more activities in the classroom. A great example is the use of interactive polls for students.
Teachers can dramatically improve their students’ performance by incorporating interactive elements into their lessons. Also, most teachers agree it’s more fun to work with students when engaged.
Conclusion
When educators present a class to their students, they must execute processes to keep their students engaged while getting them to develop appropriate learning systems. Without proper organization and tools, this can decline class quality and reflect a poor classroom experience.
It is up to you to choose the proper tool to fit your unique event requirements. With QuestionPro’s LivePolls, we provide it and surpass your expectations. It is a totally free, user-friendly online polling tool that lets you conduct quick online quizzes and timed trivia, gather instant feedback, and show the results to students in real-time.
Why don’t you just get started right away? Try QuestionPro LivePolls for free; we know you will love it!
