Conceptualizing Student Engagement and Its Role in Meaningful Learning and Teaching Experiences

Abstract

Student engagement is a crucial aspect of learning as it promotes understanding, enables learners to become responsible community members, and plays a crucial role in curriculum development. The concept has varied definitions that depict it as confusing and vague as exposed in this chapter. To demystify this confusion and vagueness, this chapter focuses on the levels of engagement and its associated formations rather than what it is. Three levels of engagement are discussed in relationship to their roles in promoting understanding of knowledge by learners, curriculum designing, and in formation of communities where knowledge, academics, students, and educational institutions interact. The discourse on student engagement conceptualization in this chapter reconciles its existent tensions with the value for education investments. Engagement is depicted as essential in promoting successful learner-instructor relations towards academic excellence and for reputable educational institutions. However, power imbalance of involved stakeholders impedes its optimal use by learners.