Running head: ENGAGEMENT THEORY

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The Engagement Theory Asma Alhamadi Kansas State University EDCI 888

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This paper examines the engagement theory through three main topics. First, it clarifies the theory definition and principles through education technology usages. Then, the paper explains each principle by providing application of use in education. Finally, the paper applies the engagement theory to Saudi Arabia schools, showing the weaknesses that might affect applying the theory through technology. The focal point in this paper is explaining how the Engagement theory can be a successful frame work for teaching and learning through technology. Keywords: engagement theory, technology, collaborative, education, students

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Theories based experences and activities are what education needs to be interesting and meaningful to students. Learners need to be involved in effective tasks to reach the main goals of teaching and learning. They need to have main role in planning and choosing class activities and materials. "Basing education upon personal experience may mean more multiplied and more intimate contacts between the mature and the immature than ever existed in the traditional school" (John Dewey, 1938. P32). Furthermore, Technology is the smartest and fastest way to reach today’s generations’ minds and interests. It is obvious that technology helps educators to engage students effectively in class activities. It opens wide range of choices for teachers and learners to interact with all kinds of knowledge and information from all around the world. In Saudi Arabia, education mostly based on traditional theories through complicated curriculum, which separates knowledge from activities and real life experience. Although, there are some schools that have advantages in better education, which engage students in meaningful activities and tasks. This paper defines and explains the Engagement theory through educational technology. Then, the paper examines the principles and activities that reach the Engagement theory’s goal in education. Finally, the paper explains applying the Engagement theory to Saudi Arabia schools through explaining the advantages and disadvantages in Saudi educational system. The Engagement theory allows technology to change and support education. “The Theory of Engagement focuses attention on student motivation and the strategies needed to increase the prospect that schools and teachers will be positioned to increase the presence of engaging tasks and activities in the routine life of the school” (Schlechty Center, 2008. para1). The main idea underlying engagement theory is that students must be meaningfully engaged in learning activities through interaction with others and effective tasks. While in principle, such engagement could happen without the use of technology, but technology can

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achieve engagement in ways which are difficult to achieve otherwise. So engagement theory is intended to be a conceptual framework for technology based Education. Pascarella and Terenzini’s summary of twenty years of research on the impact college has on student development further supports the importance of student engagement: Perhaps the strongest conclusion that can be made is the least surprising. Simply put, the greater the student’s involvement or engagement in academic work or in the academic experience of college, the greater his or her level of knowledge acquisition and general cognitive development… If the level of involvement were totally determined by individual student motivation, interest, and ability, the above conclusion would be uninteresting as well as unsurprising. However, a substantial amount of evidence indicates that there are instructional and programmatic interventions that not only increase a student’s active engagement in learning and academic work but also enhance knowledge acquisition and some dimensions of both cognitive and psychosocial change. (Smith, Sheppard, Johnson, & Johnson, 2005. p1) Engagement theory required that all teaching activities based on active cognitive processes such as problem solving, reasoning, decision making, and evaluation. Students are motivated to learn due to the meaningful nature of the learning environment and activities. Engagement Theory Principles Engagement theory is based on creating collaborative teams that work on projects that are meaningful to someone outside the classroom through three principles. Creating collaborative team is the first principle for the Engagement theory. It requires team work that involves communication, planning, and social skills. Research on collaborative learning suggests that in

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the process of collaboration, students are forced to clarify their problems, which make it easier to find solutions. Collaboration also increases the motivation of students to learn. Furthermore, teamwork gives students the opportunity to work with others from different cultures and backgrounds, which facilitates an understanding of diversity. Collaboration can be as simple as few minutes class activity involving pairs of students. In small groups, students can share strengths and also develop their weaker skills. They develop their interpersonal skills. They learn to deal with conflict. When cooperative groups are guided by clear objectives, students engage in numerous activities that improve their understanding of subjects explored. (Educational Broadcasting Corporation, 2004. para3) Collaborative learning is a technique that applies to any type of education. In languages classes students can review each other's work. In science classes, students can work on problem solving. In technology classes, students can develop or debug programs together, and so on. Email is one of the most important collaborative tools for all activities. Also, chat programs may also be important means for collaboration and sharing of results. Google Docs is the smartest and easiest collaborative tool that supports team work. Furthermore, Second Life is a great place for enjoyable successful and meaningful collaborative work. Skype is also very popular as a means for inexpensive face to face interaction in learning environments. Collaborative work provides students with meaningful knowledge which is related to their life. The second principle is connecting learning to creativity through meaningful activities. Students have to understand the project (problem) and focus on applying their ideas to it. Working on their own projects or problems is more interesting to students than working on

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textbooks problems and because they get to define the nature of their project even if they don't choose the topic, they have a control over their learning which is completely different than the traditional education. They also have the ability to choose the technology tools that meet their goals and interests. Teacher can provide a list of different topics or ideas, which gives students ideas about possible projects. Also, teacher can provide descriptions of past projects such as, last year or semester projects or assignments that are viewed through the Message Board at K-state online. In addition, students should be provided with the criteria or rubric that will be used to evaluate their work to help guide them through. A good starter activity is to assign pairs of students to research a question or problem and report the information they found to the entire group. Another step is to ask teams to evaluate each other's work. Searching for information through the internet and having the opportunity to evaluate each other, give students the power of controlling their knowledge while the teacher is guiding them and evaluating their progress. Furthermore, students’ project can be viewed in the internet such as developing websites, blogs, or videos. When students’ projects are put up on the internet, this provides motivation for them to work harder and do their best because they know that their work will be viewed by their classmates and possibly the whole world. In this way, students are learning through real experences and achieving similar goals as Dale’s Cone of Experience.

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Working collaboratively on projects and solving real life problems that is related to students’ lives, allows students’ creativity and success. The third principle focusses on making an effective contribution through learning. Ideally each project has an outside focus that the project is being developed for. This focus can be a campus group, hospital, community organization, school, library, museum, other students, or needy individual. In many cases, the projects can be based on learning, and develop to meet learners needs and interest only. Doing projects with a realistic focus also requires some new roles for teaching and learning. For students without work experience or for international students who have less experience than their classmates, the idea of doing a project for an outside focus or audience is difficult. The instructors must insure that all passible projects topics fit into the subject matter and all instructions that related to the project are clear. Collaborative projects such as developing website about school campus or students’ life, or using electronic boards to display the effect of bad habits in campus, allow students to work and collaborate in meaningful way which meet the Engagement theory goals. Being involved in creating these projects supports students’ creativity and self-confidence more than working on artificial text books problems inside classrooms. Applying Engagement theory to the Saudi Education Applying Engagement theory to Saudi Arabia Education needs effective planning and hard working. In Saudi Arabia, education has many weaknesses. Education separates knowledge from real life experience, which does not help students while applying the knowledge to their lives. Also, students, teachers, and parents are not involved in curriculum planning or choosing class activities. Ministry of education is the only one that has all the rights to change or add to

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the education system while teachers, students, and parent are receiving strict standards and old curriculums which include every detail about class activities and old technology tools. Education in Saudi Arabia is mostly based memorizing which take off students’ creativity. Furthermore, changes have not occurred in education for several years. Consequently, they are behind in using new technology to support teaching and learning. Educators there are still following traditional theories in education and they are not required to take any courses or training to keep up with new knowledge after starting their jobs. All these factors cause the poor education in Saudi Arabia. The Engagement theory can support Saudi education weaknesses if it could be applied effectively. Education in Saudi Arabia needs to be related to students’ experences, meaningful activities, and collaborative work. Students should be involved in problem solving activities, class discussions, presentations, decision making, etc. Educators have to have the rights to change or add to class work based on students’ needs and interests. Saudi education needs to be simple and modern to reach today’s changes. I admit gladly that the new education is simpler in principle than the old. It is in harmony with principles of growth, while there is very much which is artificial in the old selection and arrangement of subjects and methods, and artificiality always leads to unnecessary complexity. But the easy and simple are not identical.” (Dewey, 1938. P45) Engaging new and effective technology tools to education can transfer Saudi education from the bottom to the top. There are few steps that Saudi education should go through in order to apply the Engagement theory as a frame work for technology based learning and teaching. First, educators need intense and constant training about supporting education with technology through

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collaborative work and activities and trough connecting education with real life experience to support students’ creativity and critical thinking. Second, curriculums need to be changed to be simpler and enjoyable with the support of meaningful technology tools to help students searching for knowledge and communicating with others, so students can learn and enjoy. Third, teachers need to have some power to add to their classrooms the knowledge and tools that they believe it will support students while learning. “That the teachers should deliberately reach for power and then make the most of their conquest is my firm conviction.” (Flinders & Thornton, 2009. P49). Finally, the Engagement theory required that collaborative work can be done outside classrooms, so in Saudi Arabia education should be occur in class and outside class, or even outside school buildings. Education can occur anywhere. “The really important dependent variables in education are not located in classrooms. Nor are they located in schools. The really important dependent variables are located outside schools” (Flinders & Thornton, 2009. p130). Hopefully, applying the Engagement theory will be possible in the near future to support Saudi Arabia educational system. The Engagement theory can create and support a successful frame work for educational technology. It required effective role for teachers and learners. It also gives educators the power to choose their best way to learn and teach. Teachers play the main role in guiding students through applying the Engagement theory. The primary task of the teacher is to design engaging tasks and activities for students that call upon students to learn what the school has determined they should learn, and then leading students to success in the completion of these tasks. Teachers are, therefore, designers and leaders, and the role of teacher needs to be redefined to reflect this view. To redefine the role of teacher, it will also be necessary to redesign every other role in the

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school, including the roles of the superintendent, the board of education, central office personnel, as well as principals and parents. All of this redesign must reflect a clear understanding and acceptance of the fact the schools should be organized to nurture engagement as opposed to produce attendance and compliance. (Schlechty Center, 2008. para12). Learning collaboratively through real life experences engages students in meaningful education which opens their eyes to wide range of choices and knowledge. The principles of the Engagement theory guide educators to achieve the best result for engagement. The Engagement theory can be the best solution for the traditional education in Saudi Arabia because it supports its weaknesses. Engaging educators in planning, choosing, teaching, and learning process through technology are the keys for meaningful education.

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11 References

Dewey, J. (1938). Experience & Education. Kappa Delta Pi, New York. Educational Broadcasting Corporation. (2004). What are cooperative and collaborative learning? Retrieved from: http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/coopcollab/index.html Flinders, D. & Thornton, S. Eds. (2009). The Curriculum Studies Reader (3rd ed.) Rout ledge Flamer. Olenka Bilash. (2011). Dale’s Cone of Experence. Retrieved from: http://www2.education.ualberta.ca/staff/olenka.Bilash/best%20of%20bilash/dalescone.ht ml Schlechty Center for Leadership in school reform, (2008). Theory of Engagement. Retrieved from: http://www.cs.kent.edu/~volkert/science-learning/files/Schelchty-engagement.pdf Smith, A. Sheppard, D. Johnson, W. & Johnson, T. (2005). Pedagogies of Engagement: Classroom-Based Practices. Retrieved from: http://www.ce.umn.edu/~smith/docs/SmithPedagogies_of_Engagement.pdf