Lack of student engagement is one of the biggest challenges educators face today. And whether you’re teaching in person or online seems to make little difference. Trauma, exhaustion, feelings of hopelessness, there are many possible reasons for students’ lack of motivation, including the way they’re being taught.
The reasons for student disengagement are as varied as the students themselves. To paint in rather broad strokes, students disengage for the following reasons.
Lack of Interest – Not every topic is interesting to all students. Even when a teacher shows a great passion for the subject, not all students will light up and take an interest.
Fear of Being Wrong – Teens are highly attuned to peer response. Being wrong can sting. It stings more when the students are more concerned with being cool than right.
Social Anxiety or Shyness –some students are introverted; introverts don’t process social anxiety well.
Unclear Expectations – If the teacher doesn’t give actionable directions PLUS ask clear questions, students are unsure how to answer. (I’ll give you an example from my personal experience. I am taking a Social Psychology course at an American university. I am about to take my first graded assignment, but I am confused about what is required. The professor has uploaded a two-page instruction document that is difficult to follow, so I am planning to ask other students in the discussion forum for advice.)
Lack of Relevance – Teens are egocentric creatures. One of the biggest hurdles teachers face today is that the students only care about subjects that speak directly to their immediate interests.
Classroom Dynamics – An unfriendly classroom is a silent classroom. Teachers need to establish a safe environment where the students feel confident and safe.
Teaching Methods – Some contents simply don’t work for the students. This can be due to many factors, including processing and learning styles. Some students are fantastic in kinesthetic learning environments but completely lost in a lecture setting.
What do students say about disengagement?
- I disengage in classes where the teacher just lectures with no energy or passion for the topic. It’s already hard for me to maintain focus, so listening to someone talk with no energy or enthusiasm makes it easy to just disengage the entire class.
- To constantly pay attention to anything or to stay focused is challenging in the current world. Several factors can create hurdles to engagement, including:
- Content. If a student doesn’t find the content interesting, it can easily lead to distraction.
- Delivery. Some teachers follow the coursebook without explaining it further. This can make for a boring lecture.
- Length. If the lesson is too long, it can be challenging to keep students’ continuous attention.
- Lack of real-world application. Students are increasingly finding educational value from other resources and questioning the gap between what is taught in classrooms and what they need to learn to excel in the real world.
- Lack of adaptability. Teachers who cannot adapt by trying new teaching methods, or learning new digital tools, will find much lower enrollment in their courses and engagement in their classrooms.
- I would feel more engaged if teachers provided more opportunities that allow students to actually apply the learning to projects or case studies. When I’m able to see the results of what I’m learning, I find that I’m a lot more excited to experiment and learn about the material even beyond the classroom setting.
- Being able to practice and apply what I’m learning has also really helped me redirect my focus toward understanding the material rather than memorizing it to pass a test. As a result, the classes that teach me how to use and apply the material I’m learning are the ones where I retain the most information, even after the class has ended.
To improve engagement teachers should:
- Try to relate the discussion to real-life examples or ones that will resonate with students.
- Revise their delivery so if a student misses something the first time around, they have another chance to engage and get back on track.
- Make room for breaks so students can refresh and refuel.
- Use real-world activities that allow students to apply their knowledge and solve problems.
These are great ways to engage students and avoid losing their attention.
