Elements of Engagement for Successful Learning

Introduction College engagement refers not only to involvement in the campus and community, but also describes an experience of positive affect, concentration, and mental and/or physical exertion. Engagement has been associated with both achievement and motivation (e.g., Balogun, Hoeberlein Miller, & Schneider, 1996; Handelsman, Briggs, & Sullivan, 2005). Many have argued that engagement is highly contextualized and made meaningful by the environment (e.g., Stipek, 1996, 2001). Indeed, Bronfenbrenner (1977, 2005) argued that to better understand psychological and behavioral processes, such as engagement, one must understand the entire ecology consisting of the individual's immediate environment (e.g., family, peers, classroom), the external networks (e.g., community and health care systems), and the socio-cultural environment. This is the basis of his Ecological Systems Theory. By this reasoning, college student engagement is expected to be partly a function of the individual and also of how the individual perceives the classroom and university environment. The present research will build upon existing knowledge by examining student engagement within a broader context, as encouraged by Bronfenbrenner (1977, 2005). Much prior research has been decontextualized, examining individual students at a micro level without understanding the environment or focusing on specific classes and classroom practices (e.g., Draper & Brown, 2004; Handelsman et al., 2005; see Tinto, 1997, for an exception). Other research removed the individual to focus only on the macro level, such as universities as a whole (e.g., Kuh, Kinzie, Schuh, Whitt, & Associates, 2005; National Survey of Student Engagement, 2009; Pike & Kuh, 2005). Further, the quantitative measures that are typically relied upon do not reveal individual perspectives. A goal of the present study was to extend the research on college student engagement by exploring the broader ecological context. Thus, we investigated student engagement at the micro level and within the broader macro level of classroom and university settings in a basic interpretive study. Tinto (1997, 2006) has also encouraged this type of focus on college student development. He argues that campuses consist of overlapping hierarchies of communities of students, faculty, and staff. These communities are both academic and social in nature. This perspective is directly in line with that of Bronfenbrenner's (1977, 2005) ideas that students are nested within broader environments or communities that are both influential to and influenced by the students. Further, students were given the opportunity to define what engagement meant to them without restrictions, guidance, or boundaries. In such a way, we hoped to gain a stronger understanding of the relationship between individual student characteristics and the environment. This level of understanding can assist colleges and faculty as they attempt to implement strategies to improve student engagement and retention, and ultimately motivation and achievement (e.g., Balogun et al., 1996; Handelsman et al., 2005). In the literature review we will present a discussion about the student, followed by that of the interaction of the student and environment, concluding with the goals and direction of the present research. Literature Review Not only is it necessary to understand engagement within individual students, but also how student engagement is influenced by the environment (Bronfenbrenner, 1977, 2005; Tinto, 2006). These aspects of engagement will be explored in turn. The Student Individuals possess several attributes that may affect their engagement. For example, prior research suggests that personality, especially openness to experience and extraversion (Komarraju & Karau, 2005), is related to engagement. On the other hand, shyness and low levels of sociability relate to higher levels of loneliness after transitioning to college, which could lead to anxiety and depression (Mounts, Valentiner, & Anderson, 2006). …