Distinguishing Interest, Engagement, and Achievement: An Online Learning Approach

• In Event: Current Approaches to Interest Measurement

Abstract

“Engagement” has variously referred to interest, motivation, behavior, and cognition, and is typically distinguished in terms of degree, level of cognitive involvement, and/or domain. Despite different methods, greater engagement is assumed to signal greater interest and predict greater achievement. The Self-Regulation of Motivation model suggests that engagement behaviors might in fact reflect motivation to learn and/or motivation to experience interest, and that related behaviors might differently predict interest, motivation, and achievement. Using an online learning paradigm with undergraduates, we systematically varied the context (e.g., utility value, evaluation salience), unobtrusively measured students’ behaviors as they worked, and linked these to self-reported interest and knowledge. Findings suggest that engagement behaviors can predict interest and achievement differently depending on the context and why individuals are engaged.

Authors

• Carol Sansone, University of Utah

• Sungchoon Sinclair, University of Utah

• Tamra Birch Fraughton, University of Utah

• Jonathan Butner, University of Utah

• Joeseph Zachary, University of Utah