Article Summary: Learning Objects and Engagement of Students in Australian and New Zealand Schools

Lowe, K., Lee, L., Schibeci, R., Cummings, R., Phillips, R., & Lake, D. (2010). Learning objects and engagement of students in Australian and New Zealand schools. British Journal Of Educational Technology, 41(2), 227-241. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2009.00964.x

In this article from the British Journal of Educational Technology, they surveyed, interviewed, and observed students interacting with different learning objects. The questions they were studying focused around student engagement in the objects. They first defined engagement as "when learners are captured, heart and mind in learning are cognitively and affectively connected with the learning experience," they also noted that, "students will engage with tasks they find interesting, challenging and important," (p. 229). When I think about engagement, I notice that all three of those factors are things that students need to stay focused on a task or they can easily become distracted to something they find more interesting, challenging or important. 

In this study students of similar ages were presented two different learning objects. The first was a game-like simulation of the digestive system. They were to feed their character and the character would respond in different ways depending on the actions taken. For example if a student did not have the character chew their food they could turn red as if they were choking. "Some students wanted to solve the digestion problem, while others simply wanted to see what dreadful results they could wreak. In both cases, they were interested enough to use the object a number of times," (p. 235). Whether students were doing something to watch their character turn green or they really wanted to figure out the issue, they were given text-based information that explained what was happening, so as they engaged in the activity they also learned new information. Learning objects like this are very relevant in my classroom of first graders. Game-like activities that interest and challenge students keep them engaged and focused. 

In the other learning object students were to figure out whether or not a liquid was an acid. This game presented many barriers for students, as the first step to the activity was for students to read a dense text about acids. Most of the students chose to skip over this step which then would come to hurt their performance throughout the activity later. As the activity progressed they would have to type a response to their observations and findings. Students later figured out that they could fill in nonsense and then continue through without consequence. In the end, this activity provided little incentive to read the information and respond to their actions. "The content itself provided little emotional interest and the cognitive interest was jeopardized by poor availability of key information," (p. 237). Engaging students requires more than just entertainment, as stated previously, students need to be interested in it, find it appropriately challenging, and find it important. 

This article clearly demonstrates how a learning object or multimedia tool can seem engaging, but until we let our students test that out and have them discover whether or not they are interested, challenged and give it any importance, we cannot say off hand if it is engaging. I think that it is also important to remember that every class and every student is different. Something that one student finds engaging may or may not be engaging to another. All of these things are important to remember when implementing our new multimedias in our classrooms.