The changing nature of student engagement during a digital learning task

Abstract

The construct of student engagement has been useful in understanding students' motivation in digital learning environments where they are required to show increased autonomy and independence in learning. Increasing clarity around this construct has allowed researchers to more accurately describe the nature of student engagement and the context in which it is being investigated. At a task-level, psychological states of engagement have been shown to be beneficial for students' positive learning experience, and performance. Despite this, we still lack knowledge of how these engaged states unfold or sustain during a learning task. In this paper we report on a qualitative study that investigated undergraduate students' experiences of psychological states of engagement in a digital learning task. Findings revealed that the three dimensions of engagement - cognition, affect, and behaviour - changed in intensity, with students experiencing both times of engagement and of not being engaged through the course of a digital learning task.