How to Increase Student Engagement in Your Classroom

Maintaining student engagement can seem like a Sisyphean task. Like it or not, as a professor you’re an active member of today’s cutthroat attention economy and you’re vying against potent forces for a slice of your students’ concentration. A TikTok binge might lighten the mood but when a lecture alights someone’s interest, the effect can be life-changing. The immediate outcome of increased student engagement is a more enriching educational experience for all participants, particularly, engaged students who pay attention, ask questions, are curious, do better in school, and want to learn more.

While recent oscillations between virtual and in-person learning have presented challenges, there’s also the opportunity to re-evaluate teaching practices and optimize your skills as an instructor to improve student engagement for everyone in the classroom.

Keep reading for seven best practices to create an environment that promotes intellectual engagement and deep learning.

1. Build A Rapport

There are plenty of opportunities to forge connections with students: conversations can be held virtually or in-person, asynchronously, or in real-time. Social and intellectual connections help students feel invested in their education and lay the groundwork for a more meaningful experience. Information gleaned through these connections can also be applied to how you conceptualize your lectures. Bridge your students’ interests and your course plan—think of learning as a two-way street and demonstrate intellectual curiosity. 

• Foster a sense of belonging from the first day of class by learning individuals’ names and proper pronunciation. It’s a simple act that conveys students are encouraged to participate and grow. 

2. Provide A Purpose

Shed insight on why students are doing what they’re doing and how it relates to the rest of the course and learning objectives. This roadmap will ground students and keep them interested and engaged in their education. Students are juggling multiple balls at once—if they don’t see something as worth prioritizing, it won’t make it to the top of the to-do list. 

• Ask students what they want from their education and offer them some agency in the course. 

3. Embrace the Quotidien… 

Increase cognitive resonance and stimulation by making lectures useful and surprising. Challenge students to identify, learn and share the tools that make the mundane interesting (those “aha!” moments).  

• Build links between the classroom and the world outside the lecture hall by asking students to make connections between their day-to-day lives and the concepts you’re teaching. 

4. …But Also, Don’t Skip Variety  

To avoid falling into the monotony trap during a lecture, break concepts into chunks to keep attention focused and allow for better digestion and synthesis of the material. Be judicious about what makes it into the lesson plan to avoid cramming more topics in a lecture than the time allowance permits.  

• There are plenty of tools available for every type of learner, among them video clips, clicker polls, journaling, podcasts, simulations, and discussion breaks.  

5. Try Active Learning  

A 2019 Harvard study found that even though students felt traditional lectures provided the best learning experience, students who participated in active lectures—solving problems in small groups at the start of class—learned more and performed better on tests.

• To make these activities suitable for everyone, consider the needs of introverts and extroverts, and use different forms of communication, such as asynchronous learning, discussion boards, polls, and in-class chats.  

6. Make Pre-Work Less Work  

Flipped classrooms are where students learn the material before attending class. This structure means higher-level Bloom’s skills that promote deeper engagement, such as analyzing and evaluating, are developed in-class and give the instructor insight on different student skillsets for further personalized learning.

• Flipped classrooms give students control over when they learn fundamentals so it can occur at their own pace and at the time that is most convenient for them.  

7. Learn To Read the Room  

DJs and comedians aren’t the only professionals who need to be finely attuned to the tenor of an audience. 

• Recognize the cues when you’ve lost the class during a lesson—those blank stares, stifled yawns, and idle hands—and prepare for these moments to quickly recover and get back on track, such as initiating a discussion, video, or poll.  

They say the hardest part is showing up and, even if it may not look convincing at times, students are in their seats and ready to learn. Now it’s up to you to fine-tune the learning environment and get them on the edge of that seat and engaged.