Student engagement is shaped through the interaction between students and teaching
Student engagement does not emerge automatically. Rather, it is shaped through the interaction between the academic content of teaching and the communities the students join.
“How can I motivate my students to participate actively in my teaching?” It is a question that keeps coming up when Berit Lassesen, Associate Professor at the Centre for Educational Development (CED) meets university teachers on CED courses.
Research shows that high levels of student engagement are essential for preventing dropout and promoting both wellbeing and learning outcomes. As a teacher, you play an important role because your pedagogical choices can either strengthen or undermine students’ motivation. However, there is no universal formula for creating motivated students.
“There are no simple solutions, because students arrive on the same programme with very different backgrounds, goals and drivers. In my view, it is crucial that teachers understand why students respond so differently in teaching situations and which factors can support their engagement,” says Berit Lassesen.
According to Berit Lassesen, one of the most important starting points is to be genuinely curious about your students and to actively seek knowledge about their backgrounds, motivations and educational experiences.
Student diversity challenges the standard image of the motivated student
Students are a heterogeneous group with different educational histories, social backgrounds and motivational orientations. These differences shape how they participate in teaching and how they connect with their programme of study. Nevertheless, course design often rests on implicit assumptions about the engaged and self-regulating student.
“I often ask teachers who they imagine when they design their teaching. Is it the students they actually meet in the classroom, or an idealised version of them? When teaching is based on assumptions about the ideal student rather than the students we know are actually there, the risk increases that some students will find it harder to see themselves as part of the academic community,” says Berit Lassesen.
Data can improve our understanding of students
Much of the information that can provide a more nuanced understanding of students’ backgrounds and capabilities is already available before they begin their studies.
“We have access to a considerable amount of data about students when they start a degree programme. We can see, among other things, the qualifications on which they were admitted, their grade averages, the range within the student cohort, and whether the programme was their first, second or third choice. This kind of information can provide a sound basis for assessing whether students possess the academic foundations on which the teaching is built,” says Berit Lassesen.
Such insights may lead teachers to adjust the design of their teaching. For example, it may be appropriate to begin at a different academic level than originally planned, or to offer supplementary learning activities that help students refresh key concepts and core subject knowledge before starting their studies.
According to Berit Lassesen, teachers can also benefit from complementing existing data with information collected directly from students.
“On cohort-based courses, a short questionnaire before or at the beginning of the course can provide valuable insights into students’ prior subject knowledge, expectations and motivation. This understanding can then be used to tailor teaching to the actual student group rather than an imagined one,” she says.
What does student engagement look like?
When students are engaged, they typically experience teaching as meaningful, relevant and motivating. They invest time, attention and reflection in their learning and contribute actively to academic activities and learning processes.
However, it is important to recognise that engagement does not manifest itself in one specific way. For some students, it is expressed through active participation in discussions, asking questions and making contributions during class. For others, engagement is demonstrated more indirectly through concentration, reflection, thorough preparation and deep academic immersion.
Conversely, some students may adopt a more superficial or strategic approach to learning, focusing primarily on passing the course rather than developing a deeper understanding of the material. This may be reflected in limited classroom participation, selective reading of course texts, or a strong preoccupation with examinations and assessment.
“This is a group that teachers should take an interest in. Not because they necessarily lack ability or ambition, but because their behaviour may serve as an indicator of low motivation, uncertainty or a limited sense of academic relevance,” says Berit Lassesen.
Engagement is therefore a complex phenomenon that is not always immediately visible. Teachers should be cautious about equating visible activity with engagement and silence with a lack of interest. A nuanced understanding of different forms of participation can help identify and support engagement within a diverse student population.
Basic psychological needs and self-belief are central to motivation
Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985; 2000) suggests that motivation is strengthened when three fundamental psychological needs are supported: autonomy, competence and relatedness. Autonomy concerns the experience of choice and agency; competence refers to the feeling of being capable of mastering academic challenges; and relatedness concerns the sense of belonging to both an academic and social community.
In an educational context, these needs can be supported in a variety of ways. For example, students can be given opportunities to make choices in projects and assignments, space can be created for exploration and experimentation, ongoing formative feedback can beprovided, and the relevance of teaching can be made visible through connections to professional practice.
Motivation, however, is not determined solely by the learning environment. Students’ expectations of their own ability to succeed also play an important role.
“Students who feel that ‘I can do this’ tend to persevere and invest more in the learning process, even when they encounter difficulties or challenges,” says Berit Lassesen.
Teachers can support students’ self-efficacy by creating a learning environment in which it is legitimate to practise, make mistakes and develop gradually. Experiences of successfully completing specific tasks and overcoming challenges are particularly important in strengthening students’ confidence in their academic abilities.
Transparency and clear alignment
Transparency regarding intended learning outcomes, teaching and learning activities and assessment practices is also crucial. When the relationship between teaching and assessment is clear, unnecessary uncertainty is reduced, and students are better able to direct their efforts towards the intended learning objectives.
“We have no interest in students spending their energy trying to guess what will appear in the exam. There should be a clear alignment between what we work with in teaching and what we assess in examinations. This applies both to the content and to the format of the assessment,” says Berit Lassesen.
If asked to identify a key challenge in strengthening student engagement, Berit Lassesen points to higher education programmes’ ability to create coherence and meaningful transitions between courses, semesters and learning activities.
“There is considerable potential in working more systematically with progression across an entire degree programme. Many students feel that they encounter the same themes, methods or academic points several times without necessarily being able to see the development or the academic rationale behind it. When the coherence between courses becomes unclear, it can weaken students’ sense of relevance and, consequently, their engagement,” says Berit Lassesen.
Key takeaways
Student engagement is not simply personality characteristics or a matter of a student’s personal motivation. It is continuously shaped and influenced by the teaching design, interactions between students and teachers, and the learning environments in which teaching takes place.
Students experience and interpret teaching differently, even when they are taking the same course.
As a teacher, you can strengthen students’ belief in their ability to succeed and make learning environments feel safer and more manageable.
Insight into students’ backgrounds, needs and perspectives is an important foundation for supporting engagement and enhancing learning outcomes.
Learn more
The webinar “From Teacher-Led to Student-Centred Teaching for Change-Making” invites participants to reflect on who their students are and who they aspire to become, while considering how teaching design can foster active and critically minded learners.
You can also book individual educational consultancy support through CED.
Read more about student engagement
Fredricks, J. A., Blumenfeld, P. C., & Paris, A. H. (2004). School Engagement: Potential of the Concept, State of the Evidence. Review of Educational Research, 74(1), 59-109.
Zepke, N. (2018). Student Engagement in Neoliberal Times. Higher Education, 76, 693-703.
This English text was machine-translated using ChatGPT. The author subsequently reviewed and edited the translation manually to ensure that the meaning, tone, and subject-specific terminology are rendered accurately and naturally in the target language.