Momentary Engagement Research Articles

Navigating time and space: examining the impact of contextual factors and self-regulation strategies on university students’ momentary engagement

This study presents a tool to capture students’ academic activities and engagement dynamics in university settings. It explores how strategies to manage time and study environments interact with contextual factors (i.e. study time, learning events, and study locations) in predicting students’ concentration and cognitive learning strategies in 81 students using experience sampling method. Findings show that students who are more capable of managing their time and study environment tend to exhibit reduced susceptibility to the influences of time and types of learning events. Furthermore, the positive relationships between time and study environment management and cognitive learning strategies are stronger in formal settings or residences than in informal settings. This study underscores the significance of self-regulation strategies for learning, especially in diverse university environments, for fostering optimal learning experiences.

Understanding momentary engagement in university students: Exploring the interaction between competence and value beliefs on emotions and cognitive engagement – A multilevel investigation

Using an intensive longitudinal design, this study investigated the predictive role of and interaction between competence beliefs and task value in relation to four achievement emotions (enthusiasm, excitement, anxiety, and irritation) as well as cognitive engagement. Data were collected using an experience sampling method to capture the momentary experiences of 81 university students over 14 days. Using a multilevel modeling approach, the study disentangled variations between and within individuals across learning situations. The results indicated that associations between competence and value beliefs and emotions were primarily observed at the situational level. Both competence and value beliefs played important roles in predicting cognitive engagement. In addition, high competence beliefs acted as a buffer, mitigating the positive association between opportunity cost and anxiety and reducing the negative impact of low intrinsic value on irritation. Positive value beliefs emerged as instrumental in fostering cognitive engagement, particularly in situations characterized by limited competence beliefs. Educational relevance statementThe motivation and engagement displayed by university students in diverse learning events offer valuable insights into their dedication and academic involvement in pursuing their degrees. This study highlights the importance of perceiving both high competence beliefs and intrinsic value, which results in stronger associations with enthusiasm and excitement during learning. Conversely, high opportunity cost is linked to greater anxiety, but high competence beliefs act as a protective factor, mitigating this effect. High competence beliefs also counteract the negative impact of low intrinsic value on irritation. Value beliefs, particularly importance and intrinsic value, have a compensatory effect on cognitive engagement. Positive value beliefs play a crucial role in driving cognitive engagement, especially when competence beliefs are lacking. Gaining insight into changes within individuals and variations between students enables educators to effectively tailor instructional strategies and provide support, which in turn fosters students' motivation and engagement.

Profiles of State and Trait Engagement of Preschool Children

ABSTRACT Research Findings: This study examined the engagement of 494 preschool children in Sweden (M = 53.44 months, SD = 10.64) using both teacher questionnaires to measure global engagement (trait) and observations to measure momentary engagement (state). Using a person-oriented approach with cluster analysis, we identified five distinct profiles of global and momentary engagement, with four of them showing discrepancies between global and observed engagement levels. We found that age, hyperactivity, and second language learner (SLL) status were related to a specific engagement profile. Specifically, children high in hyperactivity tended to be in clusters with higher momentary engagement than global engagement, whereas second language learners were overrepresented in clusters with lower momentary engagement. Practice or Policy: The findings suggest that global and observed measures of engagement capture different aspects of children’s engagement and should not be used interchangeably. Children with low engagement ratings on both measures of engagement are more likely to have an extreme score on the global engagement measure, indicating that difficulties they experience will be more noticeable in their global engagement. On the other hand, displays of high levels of momentary engagement could signal children’s inherent potential, prompting tailored encouragement and support within Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings and promoting their overall engagement levels.

Emergence of college students’ John Henryism during schoolwork: an exploratory study

John Henryism (JH), named after the American folk hero John Henry, is a construct characterised by a behavioural predisposition for high-effort coping with psychosocial stressors. While it has been rigorously studied in the health sciences, little empirical research has focused on how JH emerges within educational contexts, specifically during schoolwork. This exploratory study investigated factors related to JH—race/ethnicity, gender, first-generation college student status, and high-effort coping—on school-based cognitive and emotional engagement. Results revealed that high JH scores predicted positive cognitive and emotional momentary engagement, particularly for racial/ethnic minorities and first-generation college students. Furthermore, in comparing our subsample of first-generation females with our overall sample of female students, we learned that JH had a greater positive influence on first-generation females’ momentary engagement than on that of the overall sample of female students. Findings suggest that historically marginalised groups may regularly rely on JH to cope with systemic inequality in school activities.

Toward Tailoring Just-in-Time Adaptive Intervention Systems for Workplace Stress Reduction: Exploratory Analysis of Intervention Implementation.

Integrating stress-reduction interventions into the workplace may improve the health and well-being of employees, and there is an opportunity to leverage ubiquitous everyday work technologies to understand dynamic work contexts and facilitate stress reduction wherever work happens. Sensing-powered just-in-time adaptive intervention (JITAI) systems have the potential to adapt and deliver tailored interventions, but such adaptation requires a comprehensive analysis of contextual and individual-level variables that may influence intervention outcomes and be leveraged to drive the system's decision-making. This study aims to identify key tailoring variables that influence momentary engagement in digital stress reduction microinterventions to inform the design of similar JITAI systems. To inform the design of such dynamic adaptation, we analyzed data from the implementation and deployment of a system that incorporates passively sensed data across everyday work devices to send just-in-time stress reduction microinterventions in the workplace to 43 participants during a 4-week deployment. We evaluated 27 trait-based factors (ie, individual characteristics), state-based factors (ie, workplace contextual and behavioral signals and momentary stress), and intervention-related factors (ie, location and function) across 1585 system-initiated interventions. We built logistical regression models to identify the factors contributing to momentary engagement, the choice of interventions, the engagement given an intervention choice, the user rating of interventions engaged, and the stress reduction from the engagement. We found that women (odds ratio [OR] 0.41, 95% CI 0.21-0.77; P=.03), those with higher neuroticism (OR 0.57, 95% CI 0.39-0.81; P=.01), those with higher cognitive reappraisal skills (OR 0.69, 95% CI 0.52-0.91; P=.04), and those that chose calm interventions (OR 0.43, 95% CI 0.23-0.78; P=.03) were significantly less likely to experience stress reduction, while those with higher agreeableness (OR 1.73, 95% CI 1.10-2.76; P=.06) and those that chose prompt-based (OR 6.65, 95% CI 1.53-36.45; P=.06) or video-based (OR 5.62, 95% CI 1.12-34.10; P=.12) interventions were substantially more likely to experience stress reduction. We also found that work-related contextual signals such as higher meeting counts (OR 0.62, 95% CI 0.49-0.78; P<.001) and higher engagement skewness (OR 0.64, 95% CI 0.51-0.79; P<.001) were associated with a lower likelihood of engagement, indicating that state-based contextual factors such as being in a meeting or the time of the day may matter more for engagement than efficacy. In addition, a just-in-time intervention that was explicitly rescheduled to a later time was more likely to be engaged with (OR 1.77, 95% CI 1.32-2.38; P<.001). JITAI systems have the potential to integrate timely support into the workplace. On the basis of our findings, we recommend that individual, contextual, and content-based factors be incorporated into the system for tailoring as well as for monitoring ineffective engagements across subgroups and contexts.

Momentary engagement in simultaneous versus consecutive interpreting: through the lens of translanguaging and CDST.

Through the lens of translanguaging theory and the complex, dynamic system theory (CDST) approach, the interpreting process is considered a highly complex and dynamic activity that engages the interpreter's cognition, emotion, and action during successive "translanguaging moments" of meaning-making. Meanwhile, the two dominant types of interpreting, namely, simultaneous interpreting, and consecutive interpreting are assumed to entail distinct time sensitivity and consume different amounts of cognitive resources at different stages. Based on these assumptions, the present study analyzes interpreters' momentary engagement during the distinct workflow tasks associated with these two modes of interpreting, with a view to probing their underlying non-linearity, self-organization and emergence dynamics from a micro-level perspective. Furthermore, we triangulated the textual description with multimodal transcription to portray these "translanguaging moments," which are augmented with a follow-up emotional survey that corroborated our findings.

John Henryism, psychological labor, and control-value theory: Race, ethnicity, and situational coping for student success

This study explored the integration of John Henryism—defined as effortful, active coping in response to environmental stress—into control-value theory. Specifically, we were interested in how this process differed among identity groups. We used measures of John Henryism (JHAC-12), control-value theory, and momentary engagement (Record of Experience) on a school-based task. Results demonstrated the following: identifying as a first-generation college student predicted John Henryism; value significantly predicted cognitive engagement and positive emotion; and perceived control lowered negative emotions. Identifying as a first-generation college student corresponded to higher levels of John Henryism and control. Identifying as female led to a decrease in positive emotions, but an increase in value. Similarly, identifying as a Black student was associated with a decrease in control, but also a decrease in negative emotions. Indirect effects showed that identifying as a first-generation college student led to an increase in John Henryism followed by (1) an increase in value, (2) an increase in perceived control, or (3) an increase in value with attendant positive emotions. Findings indicate that John Henryism integrates into control-value theory and contributes to momentary engagement on a school-based task.

From high peaks to deep valleys: Using a situation- and person-oriented approach to assess within- and between-student variation in momentary engagement and disengagement

The present study investigated the qualitatively different moments of engagement and disengagement experienced by students at upper-secondary school in academic situations. Further, we examined between-student differences in the occurrence of these moments and their associations with both momentary task performance and overall academic achievement. By means of multilevel latent profile analysis (MLPA) we examined 1392 momentary experiences of 130 students, collected via experience sampling method (ESM). We identified six types of (dis)engagement moments varying within students from moment to moment: high engagement, moderate engagement, indifferent engagement, anxious engagement, anxious disengagement and bored disengagement. In addition, we identified four student profiles: highly engaged, moderately engaged, indifferently engaged and anxious. Whereas the engagement moments were related to momentary task performance, there were no differences between the student profiles in academic achievement. These results shed light on the nuanced nature of engagement and disengagement, and how they vary across individuals and situations.

Silver linings and storm clouds: Divergent profiles of student momentary engagement emerge in response to the same task.

Previous research has demonstrated that student motivation and engagement can take different forms across a variety of tasks at school or college. However, no research has yet examined the forms of student momentary engagement that emerge in response to a single task. Adolescent students (N = 196) from two low-income secondary schools in Dublin, Ireland were given the same English grammar task to complete in a 10-min period. We used systematic observation and posttask self-report measures to collect data on momentary cognition, emotion, motivation, and behavior. Using latent profile analysis, we discovered seven main forms of momentary (dis)engagement: fully engaged, attentive but amotivated, attentive but disinterested, attentive but disaffected, distracted but motivated, disengaged, and deeply disengaged. Gender, ethnicity, academic self-efficacy, peer support, and classmate cognitive engagement were notable predictors of group membership. The results should be useful to educators wanting to understand why students in their classrooms have a variety of responses to the same task. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

Self‐talk in middle childhood: A mechanism for motivational resilience during learning

AbstractAll individuals possess an inner voice that helps them to navigate life and its challenges. However, little is known about how children use self‐talk to maintain their momentary engagement during academic tasks. Using qualitative methods, this study investigated how 19 children (aged 8–12 years) from one primary school prospectively used self‐talk to maintain their motivation. Vignettes were used to prompt children's reports on what they would say to themselves to stay motivated during challenges they might typically encounter in the classroom. These included becoming frustrated or tired, and having to choose between work and play. The data were deductively coded into 11 coping families typically measured in academic settings within the framework of motivational resilience. The data were then inductively coded within the best represented coping families to uncover subthemes of coping. The results extend the motivational resilience literature and illustrate the multidimensional nature of coping with challenges in classrooms.

#wordswewear: mobile texts, expressive persons, and conviviality in urban spaces

ABSTRACT In this programmatic paper, we approach #wordswewear, referring to the wide range of linguistic inscriptions on clothing and accessories, as part of the embodied, mobile semiotic landscape of the city. Our main objective is to reflect on (1) the conditions that gave rise to the apparent pervasiveness of #wordswewear in urban spaces, and (2) the extent to which they constitute a form of public, urban discourse. Drawing on an emergent collection of over 500 images photographed in situ, mainly in three global cities – Hong Kong, London, and Shanghai – the paper situates #wordswewear in everyday mobilities and moorings and considers their wearers as expressive persons. We contend that #wordswewear encapsulate the contemporary, paradoxical urban condition among city dwellers, whereby they seek a sense of involvement with one another while being “on the move” and maintaining their respective, individual comfort zones. Fleeting and ephemeral as they may be, such acts of momentary engagement (or avoidance thereof) are some of the most minimal, analyzable acts of performing identities in public discourse. Finally, we suggest that #wordswewear can be considered as manifestations of urban conviviality understood as a space for the negotiation of diversity, inclusion and exclusion.

The professional student program for educational resilience: Enhancing momentary engagement in classwork

The Professional Student Program for Educational Resilience (PROSPER) was designed to increase students’ ability to stay momentarily engaged in classwork, thus promoting educational resilience. Participants (N = 277, 51% male, 74% Irish) from two low-income schools in Dublin, Ireland (School A n = 158; School B n = 119), were assessed using the intervention’s theory of change: (1) change in knowledge of how to stay engaged in classwork, (2) subsequent change in momentary engagement in classwork, and (3) subsequent longer-term change in dispositions for engagement (i.e., tendency to enjoy learning). Qualitative results demonstrated that PROSPER facilitated students’ knowledge, momentary engagement, and teachers’ involvement with students. Quantitative analyses uncovered changes in knowledge and momentary engagement for both the higher and lower ability tracks in School A. The results give refined information on how this universal-school based program increased students’ momentary engagement and supported their educational resilience.

A wearables-based approach to detect and identify momentary engagement in afterschool Makerspace programs

Educational activities and programs associated with the Maker movement, which emphasizes creation of physical and digital artifacts as part of the learning experience, are presumed to be highly engaging for youth. However, there has been limited research examining what features of Maker learning activities are associated with youth engagement. We describe a research approach using wearable electrodermal activity sensors and wearable cameras to obtain data from two afterschool programs at a community Makerspace for adolescent girls (N = 12, 13). Using data obtained from these two sources along with daily survey data, we compare what is revealed from these different data sources. We observe a moderate correlation between electrodermal activity and engagement from survey responses. We also observe that activities emphasizing personal expression elicited engagement from many youth. From the EDA data and first-person video, we also identify 23 moments when groups of participants had several concurrent EDA responses suggesting high levels momentary engagement. Key features associated with those moments were opportunities for peer socialization, interactive instructional discourse, and physical making activities when objects were being assembled and manipulated.

Analysis of driver roles: modelling the changing role of the driver in automated driving systems using EAST

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this paper is to analyse the role of the driver within automated driving systems using the Event Analysis of Systemic Teamwork (EAST) method. We already know that as the level of automation increases within the driving task, the role of the driver shifts from that of an active operator (i.e. a driver driving) to more of a passive monitor (i.e. a driver monitoring). Task, social and information networks were constructed using the Hierarchical Task Analysis of Driving and evidence from driver verbalisations collected during a previous study to further explore the changing role of the driver using network analysis. A ‘broken links’ approach was conducted to show that momentary engagement in non-driving-related secondary tasks within an automated driving system can dramatically change the structure of driving system.

Consumer Engagement and Sponsorship Effectiveness: Finding Flow in Sport

Consumer engagement concerns the quality (or strength) of the psychological connection with sport properties (or sponsors) perceived by the consumer, which is a valuable asset to sponsored property’s and sponsor’s brand equity and a key determinant of sponsorship effectiveness. In this study, we focus on the phenomenon of ‘flow’ (i.e., state of intense momentary engagement) as an important indicator of consumer engagement and examine the phenomenon’s influence on sponsorship effectiveness. A pre-post survey-based study was conducted to test whether the experience of flow influences the consumer’s attitude and behavioral intention towards the sponsor before and after the sponsorship exposure through a major sporting event. The results showed significant moderating effect of flow, suggesting emphasis on flow as a key indicator of consumer engagement and a key construct explaining sponsorship effectiveness.

Daily job crafting and momentary work engagement: A self-determination and self-regulation perspective

The present study investigates the possible mechanisms involved in the link between daily job crafting and daily work engagement. Using self-determination theory, we hypothesize that daily job crafting is positively related to daily work engagement through momentary need satisfaction and momentary engagement. Additionally, using self-regulation theory, we predict that daily job crafting is negatively related to daily work engagement, through momentary energy depletion and (reduced) momentary work engagement. Participants from various occupational sectors (N = 66) responded to a daily diary questionnaire (N = 261) as well as momentary, task-related items (N = 1539) using a day reconstruction method at the end of each of four working days. The results of multilevel modeling were generally supportive of the hypotheses. We conclude that daily job crafting can have both positive and negative implications for daily work engagement, and discuss the practical implications of our findings.

Unobtrusive Assessment of Students' Emotional Engagement during Lectures Using Electrodermal Activity Sensors

Modern wearable devices enable the continuous and unobtrusive monitoring of human physiological parameters, including heart rate and electrodermal activity. Through the definition of adequate models these parameters allow to infer the wellbeing, empathy, or engagement of humans in different contexts. In this paper, we show that off-the-shelf wearable devices can be used to unobtrusively monitor the emotional engagement of students during lectures. We propose the use of several novel features to capture students' momentary engagement and use existing methods to characterize the general arousal of students and their physiological synchrony with the teacher. To evaluate our method we collect a data set that -- after data cleaning -- contains data from 24 students, 9 teachers, and 41 lectures. Our results show that non-engaged students can be identified with high reliability. Using a Support Vector Machine, for instance, we achieve a recall of 81% -- which is a 25 percentage points improvement with respect to a Biased Random classifier. Overall, our findings may inform the design of systems that allow students to self-monitor their engagement and act upon the obtained feedback. Teachers could profit of information about non-engaged students too to perform self-reflection and to devise and evaluate methods to (re-)engage students.

Examining Relationships among Choice, Affect, and Engagement in Summer STEM Programs.

Out-of-school time programs focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) have proliferated recently because they are seen as having potential to appeal to youth and enhance STEM interest. Although such programs are not mandatory, youth are not always involved in making the choice about their participation and it is unclear whether youth's involvement in the choice to attend impacts their program experiences. Using data collected from experience sampling, traditional surveys, and video recordings, we explore relationships among youth's choice to attend out-of-school time programs (measured through a pre-survey) and their experience of affect (i.e., youth experience sampling ratings of happiness and excitement) and engagement (i.e., youth experience sampling ratings of concentration and effort) during program activities. Data were collected from a racially and ethnically diverse sample of 10-16 year old youth (n = 203; 50% female) enrolled in nine different summer STEM programs targeting underserved youth. Multilevel analysis indicated that choice and affect are independently and positively associated with momentary engagement. Though choice to enroll was a significant predictor of momentary engagement, positive affective experiences during the program may compensate for any decrements to engagement associated with lack of choice. Together, these findings have implications for researchers, parents, and educators and administrators of out-of-school time programming.

A person‐in‐context approach to student engagement in science: Examining learning activities and choice

AbstractScience education reform efforts in the Unites States call for a dramatic shift in the way students are expected to engage with scientific concepts, core ideas, and practices in the classroom. This new vision of science learning demands a more complex conceptual understanding of student engagement and research models that capture both the multidimensionality and contextual specificity of student engagement in science. In a unique application of person‐oriented analysis of experience sampling data, we employ cluster analysis to identify six distinctmomentary engagement profilesrepresenting different combinations of the behavioral, cognitive, and affective dimensions of student engagement in high school science classrooms. Students spend a majority of their classroom time in one of several engagement profiles characterized by high engagement on one dimension, but low levels on the others. Students exhibited low engagement across all three dimensions of engagement in about 22% of our observations. Full engagement, or high levels across all three dimensions, is the least frequent profile, occurring in only 11% of the observations. Students’ momentary engagement profiles are related in meaningful ways to both the learning activity in which students are engaged and the types of choices they are afforded. Laboratory activities provided especially polarized engagement experiences, producing full engagement, universally low engagement, and pleasurable engagement in which students are affectively engaged but are not engaged cognitively or behaviorally. Student choice is generally associated with more optimal engagement profiles and the specific type of choice matters in important ways. Choices about how to frame the learning activity have the most positive effects relative to other types of choices, such as choosing whom to work with or how much time to take. Results are discussed in terms of implications for practice and the utility of the methodological approach for evaluating the complexities of student engagement in science classrooms. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 88: 19–43, 2018

Orientations to happiness and the experience of everyday activities

The orientation to happiness framework proposes that individuals seek well-being through three behavioral orientations: Pleasure, meaning, and engagement. We investigated how orientations to happiness (OTH) influenced the pursuit and experience of daily activities using experience sampling methods. One hundred and seventy three people responded to three text messages per day for seven days asking how they felt about their current activity. Most participants did not report a dominant orientation to happiness, and the highest rated orientation receiving did not predict which daily activities participants engaged in most. However, trait orientation to happiness related to how activities were experienced. Individuals scoring highly on all three orientations rated their activities highly on momentary pleasure, meaning, engagement, and happiness. Overall, it appears more important for daily well-being to have a balanced and strong portfolio of the three OTH than to have any one particularly dominant orientation.