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Engagement (n): An act of promising, committing, becoming engrossed, occupied, interlocked, enmeshed, entangled, or otherwise involved.
What engages students? And what engages faculty in engaging them? Both of these questions need our attention as we consider how and why we should teach. The stakes are high. If students do not engage, they are unlikely to learn. And if we do not engage, we are unlikely to engage our students. Furthermore, if we do not engage, we miss out on opportunities to learn ourselves. Thus, the engagement of all involved in the teaching and learning processes would seem to be a worthy and mutually beneficial goal.
Worthy or not, engagement is no simple process. It involves the commitment of self and energy from students and instructors. And even with such a commitment, engagement may remain an elusive goal. These observations serve as the rationale for the assertion made in the title; namely, that engagement is an art. Engaging one's students is not simply a matter of dutifully following a set of rules. Rather, like any art, engagement requires creatiNity and must be developed and continually practiced. In short, the art of engagement is worthy of reflection and study over the entire span of one's teaching career.
A Philosophy of Engagement
I teach a large general chemistry course for non-science majors. In my experience, these students are smart, multitalented, and themselves engaging, although occasionally a bit science-phobic. Recently, a student from this course e-mailed me:
After taking the final today, I realized how great it felt to take a test after learning about things that I really care about. I never wanted to take chemistry in college-I came into this class thinking of it as nothing more then a prerequisite. But you changed something for me.
What changed for this student? Although several explanations are possible, I propose that at some level, she engaged. As is common for many nonmajors in our science courses, she was not taking the class by choice. Yet something changed her mind, and many others over the years have echoed similar sentiments.
My students are diverse. In terms of their area of study, just over a third are from the College of Letters and Science, and many have yet to declare a...