Maintaining Middle School Students’ Engagement in Virtual Learning Environments

Blanca Ibarra,Pierre Lu

doi:10.22158/fce.v2n2p1

Abstract

The current COVID-19 pandemic has created many challenges for teachers as they transition to teaching in virtual learning environments. Virtual learning environments have forced educators to adapt teaching strategies and become creative and innovative to maintain student engagement (Korkmaz & Toraman, 2020). Middle school social studies teachers have always dealt with a lack of student interest in learning history, and the current instructional setting is requiring a reimagined teacher craft to deliver high-quality instruction. The interaction between students and teachers often depends on the content, highly effective questioning, choice in response methods, technology tools, or learning platforms (Czerkawski & Lyman, 2016). A conceptual understanding of the types of engagement, including cognitive, affective, and behavioral (Buric & Franzel, 2020; Raes, Vanneste, Pieters, Windey, Van Den Noortgate & Depaepe, 2020; Van Uden, Ritzen & Pieters, 2013; Ding, Kim & Orey, 2017) will help inform the types of instructional strategies that will be most effective at increasing and maintaining student engagement. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the experiences and problems associated with engaging students in virtual learning environments for middle school social studies teachers in a border school district with over 40,000 students. The overarching theme that emerged from the data collected was that teachers play a significant role in creating a learning environment that supports students, encourages participation through interactive technology, and nurtures relationships to promote student engagement. Findings suggest educators understand the challenges educators face to keep students engaged and motivated, and some of the best practices that can increase student engagement in virtual learning.

Highlights

The current COVID-19 pandemic has created many challenges for teachers as they transition to teaching in virtual learning environments
Formal observations of teachers and follow-up interviews helped validate survey results and gain a deeper understanding of teachers‟ experiences and challenges in keeping students engaged in virtual learning environments. 3.2 Context, Site, and Participants One of the researchers is the social studies instructional coordinator for the border school district involved in this research study, and she has direct knowledge of the challenges and successes teachers face in the virtual learning environment obtained through informal observations since the beginning of the academic school year
The four teachers were individually interviewed after school for 45 minutes using a structured interview approach and asked the following questions: (1) What has been your biggest challenge in virtual learning? (2) What instructional strategies have you used to keep students engaged in learning and check for mastery? (3) What tech tools have you used to engage students? (4) How do your students show engagement in learning? (5) What strategies do you use to motivate students to learn? 3.3 Data Collection and Analysis A survey instrument to measure middle school social studies teachers‟ experiences with student engagement in the virtual learning environment guided the initial research inquiry

Summary

Introduction

The current COVID-19 pandemic has created many challenges for teachers as they transition to teaching in virtual learning environments. A qualitative research study grounded in a transcendental phenomenological perspective was conducted to identify the current challenges teachers face in engaging students, the levels and types of recent engagement in virtual learning, and the best practices that have been effective at cognitively, affectively, and behaviorally maintaining student engagement. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the experiences and problems with engaging students in virtual learning environments for middle school social studies teachers in a border school district with over 40,000 students.

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion