Disengagement, engagement and digital skills in technology-enhanced learning
Publication details
| Year: | 2020 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s10639-019-09998-w |
| Issued: | 2019 |
| Language: | English |
| Volume: | 25 |
| Issue: | 2 |
| Start Page: | 957 |
| End Page: | 983 |
| Editors: | |
| Authors: | Bergdahl N.; Nouri J.; Fors U. |
| Type: | Journal article |
| Journal: | Education and Information Technologies |
| Publisher: | Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
| Topics: | Learning; Social mediation; Literacy and skills; Digital and socio-cultural environment |
| Sample: | "872 students in 11 upper secondary schools in Stockholm, Sweden. A total of 552 students filled in the questionnaire. The schools then provided 410 grades, which were matched with the corresponding questionnaire and thus constitute the final sample of this study." (Authors, 965) |
| Implications For Educators About: | Digital citizenship; STEM Education; Other |
| Implications For Policy Makers About: | Other |
| Other PolicyMaker Implication: | Improving young people's digital skills in general is important for learning outcomes |
Abstract
Abstract
With the digitalisation of education increasing, the relationship between student engagement in Technology-enhanced Learning (TEL) and digital skills has remained largely unexplored. There is a strong consensus that engagement is necessary for students to succeed in school. We hypothesised that students reporting high and low levels of general engagement display differences in terms of their engagement in TEL, and that students’ digital skills correlate with their engagement in and disengagement in TEL, which in turn is related to their learning outcomes. We used statistical tests to explore the relationship between the students’ (N = 410) general engagement and engagement in TEL, and investigated how digital skills were related to engagement and disengagement in TEL. We found significant correlations between students’ digital skills and engagement in TEL, showing that the possession of high levels of digital skill is related to engagement in TEL. Interestingly, digital skills were not related to disengagement. This suggests that students reporting both high and low levels of digital skills disengage to some extent when learning with technologies. We also identified variables reflecting both engagement and disengagement in TEL that predict student performance as measured via final grades, implying that in order to understand and support students who learn with technologies, a broader understanding of the factors influencing engagement and disengagement is key.
Outcome
"[H]igh levels of digital skills were related to high levels of engagement in TEL. However, digital skills were not related to disengagement in TEL. .... [E]ngagement in TEL is...related to students’ level of digital skills.... S]tudent engagement and disengagement in TEL...predict[s] student grades.... [F]unctioning relationships within group work with peers, the social presence of teachers in online environments and the ability to strike a digital balance are beneficial factors for student engagement and outcomes. (Authors, 965-761)