Top Tips for Student Engagement

Nana Akosua Dekyi, Schools Outreach and Marketing Officer

To be effective, engagement should be continuous, representative (typical of a class, group, or body of opinion.) and meaningful.

CONSIDER THE TIME — If possible, try and engage with students between 10am-3pm as trying to engage students too early or too late may reduce the likelihood of interaction.

INTERACTIVE ACTIVITIES — Thinking of how to use different types of learning approaches helps engage different types of learners. Some students may need solo working time to concentrate, some prefer group work and some excel in class discussions. A great workshop incorporates all types of interactions to ensure everyone in the class receives the information effectively.

POSITIVE INTERACTIONS — Try and maintain a real, but positive, tone throughout your whole session. Encouraging students to participate in your session requires them to trust you to lead the session, remain positive both in your words and tone to build that trust.

TIMING OF ACTIVITIES — Short burst of activities will keep students engaged. It is better to cut an activity short than keep it going on for too long. An average adult stays focused for 14 minutes; now, imagine a teenager! During your session consider setting time aside for some type of reflection.

SET UP OF ROOM — Things to think about include the temperature of a room, the set up of the chairs, the layout of the tables and the brightness of the lights. These may seem irrelevant but the less students are distracted by their surroundings the more they should be engaged in what you are saying. If you can change the room layout then do it. Long sessions will require you to be creative so be ready to move the seats around in a room so the set up feels different.

Engagement doesn’t always mean active interaction — keep in mind people’s personalities, people listen and engage with a topic very differently.

Every time you engage with students take a key learning away — you will never get it right straight away, you will continually learn from the students you meet. Be open to changing your techniques: just because something works with one group of students it does not necessarily mean it will work in another group.

Robert Heinlein — “When one teaches, two learn.”