Engagement in e-Learning

I just read an excellent opinion article on engagement on eLearn Magazine by Mark Notess at Indiana University (See article.) So often I find that most individuals tend to look at engagement as a “property of the materials.” For example, we add an interactive set of tabs to click through to chunk up the information delivered and call it “engagement.” Yes, this does in some way equate to a form of engagement. It seems to me that “engagement” in e-Learning exists on multiple levels just as it does in a face-to-face setting. At the lowest level you have attendance, a warm body in the room or sitting at the computer. At the highest level you have transfer of the knowledge to a new context. More than likely, to achieve transfer there had to be more than just “attendance.” In some eay the materials should have inspired engaged, minds-on active learners who are constructing knowledge and/or understanding of the subject matter through some combination of methods (i.e. discussion, reflection, collaboration, a task, etc.) As we evaluate “engagement” in our e-Learning modules and courses I try to ask myself, “how well will the ‘engagement’ tactics we chose for this piece translate to active thoughtfulness?” Likewise, in our design work at Vivayic we try to step back and ultimately evaluate “engagement” by determining whether or not the targeted behavior is transferred by the learner to practice in the real world.