#CSAM18 Day 23: Putting Engagement to Work
To me, engagement is the heart of our work. At the core of student success is this concept of engagement. Don’t believe me? Let me Google that for you. A mere 173,000,000 hits come back in just over 0.5 seconds when you search “engagement in higher education.”
In our work, we (ideally) focus on how we:
1. Engage with our students
2. Create opportunities for our students to engage with each other
3. Encourage our students to engage with their studies
4. Ensure our students engage with faculty and staff (besides ourselves)
5. Identify and model how our students should engage civically, beyond the borders of the academy
While there’s no secret sauce to student success, persistence, or graduation, there is a key ingredient theory tells us – and research confirms – is necessary: engagement. The kicker is, however, that it has to be quality engagement.
Folks like Astin, Graham & Bradley, Kuh, and Jacoby, among countless others, all stress the need for students to have high-quality interactions that deepen their relationships and affinity for institutions.
So, how can we use engagement theories and literature to guide our work? Here are a few ideas:
1. Read the theories. Chelsea has done a great job synopsizing a few theories for you during this month of posts. However, there are fabulous articles and books out there written by the premiere researchers in our field – and most of their work is pretty accessible (both in terms of getting to them and reading them).
2. See what you’re already doing that constitutes engagement. The five points I note earlier in this post are how I construct engagement based on my reading and studying of the theory. Chances are, the work you’re doing promotes some level of engagement. Use theory to deepen the work you’re doing to achieve maximum effect.
3. Demonstrate what “engagement” actually is for your students. When you go to student events, engage with them. Invite those not heavily active to join in whatever is happening. Encourage students to approach controversy with civility – especially around hot-button topics. Ensure that when you guide reflective activities for your students that you, too, reflect on your involvement, perspectives, and observations, and do so with empathy.
If you’re looking for a few more ways, check out this article from Zepke and Leach (2010), where they do a comprehensive review of the literature surrounding engagement. They propose ten points of action to increase engagement, based on their reading and interpretation of the literature, and most of them seem pretty doable to me.
Matthew D. Pistilli, PhD, (@mdpistilli) is the director of Student Affairs Assessment and Research for the Division of Student Affairs at Iowa State University.
In our work, we (ideally) focus on how we:
1. Engage with our students
2. Create opportunities for our students to engage with each other
3. Encourage our students to engage with their studies
4. Ensure our students engage with faculty and staff (besides ourselves)
5. Identify and model how our students should engage civically, beyond the borders of the academy
While there’s no secret sauce to student success, persistence, or graduation, there is a key ingredient theory tells us – and research confirms – is necessary: engagement. The kicker is, however, that it has to be quality engagement.
Folks like Astin, Graham & Bradley, Kuh, and Jacoby, among countless others, all stress the need for students to have high-quality interactions that deepen their relationships and affinity for institutions.
So, how can we use engagement theories and literature to guide our work? Here are a few ideas:
1. Read the theories. Chelsea has done a great job synopsizing a few theories for you during this month of posts. However, there are fabulous articles and books out there written by the premiere researchers in our field – and most of their work is pretty accessible (both in terms of getting to them and reading them).
2. See what you’re already doing that constitutes engagement. The five points I note earlier in this post are how I construct engagement based on my reading and studying of the theory. Chances are, the work you’re doing promotes some level of engagement. Use theory to deepen the work you’re doing to achieve maximum effect.
3. Demonstrate what “engagement” actually is for your students. When you go to student events, engage with them. Invite those not heavily active to join in whatever is happening. Encourage students to approach controversy with civility – especially around hot-button topics. Ensure that when you guide reflective activities for your students that you, too, reflect on your involvement, perspectives, and observations, and do so with empathy.
If you’re looking for a few more ways, check out this article from Zepke and Leach (2010), where they do a comprehensive review of the literature surrounding engagement. They propose ten points of action to increase engagement, based on their reading and interpretation of the literature, and most of them seem pretty doable to me.
Matthew D. Pistilli, PhD, (@mdpistilli) is the director of Student Affairs Assessment and Research for the Division of Student Affairs at Iowa State University.
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