The Adolescent Community of Engagement: A Framework for Research on Adolescent Online Learning

Image: Joy Reeves – The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School.

ANNOTATION: Borup, J., West R., Graham C. and Davies, R. (2014) The Adolescent Community of Engagement: A Framework for Research on Adolescent Online Learning. Journal of Technology and Teacher Engagement 22(1), 107-129.

Enrollments in K-12 online learning continue to increase at a rapid pace, despite findings that suggest far higher attrition rates among younger students than among university and adult students. Numerous frameworks have been developed to describe and understand higher education online learning, but none of these are sufficient to address the specific elements that would ensure success of adolescent students in an online learning environment. This paper presents a framework adolescent online learning, called the Adolescent Community of Engagement (ACE).

The ACE framework is built on a review of literature. It is based on existing higher ed frameworks, building from three constructs of engagement in higher education online learning: student to teacher, student to content, and student to student. However, the ACE relies on on research from in-person adolescent learning to add an additional construct: student to parent engagement.

The authors of this paper review three prevalent theoretical frameworks on online learning, then evaluate existing frameworks on parent involvement, and apply these to the online environment. The first of these comes from Moore (1989, 1990), who first defined the primary three types of learner interaction in educational contexts. 1) Learner-content refers is student use of materials. 2) Learner-instructor interaction builds on the materials and provides motivation and feedback. 3) Moore posited that learner-learner interaction may be more significant for adolescents, and according to several citations within this article, adolescent learners are also affected by their families, workplaces, and communities.

A second contributing framework is Garrison et al.’s Community of Inquiry, which emphasizes communication to minimize the transactional distance, or “remoteness,” of online learning. Garrison identifies the critical importance of teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence, but designates teaching presence as the foundation for all of them.

Borup et al review several examples of research on the role of parent engagement in improving outcomes in face-to-face learning. Parents help students organize their time, stay on top of deadlines, access the content, and also model desired academic behaviors, particularly in the way they place value upon study and learning by communicating with teachers, acting on recommendations, and taking part in school activities to demonstrate the importance of school in their children’s lives.

The researchers’ primary hypothesis is that as parent, teacher, and peer engagement increase, student engagement will likely increase too.

Regarding each type of engagement, the authors conclude:

• Student Engagement: Student engagement is the primary focus of the ACE framework, with subtypes defined as emotional, behavioral, and cognitive engagements.
• Teacher Engagement: This refers to the teacher’s ability to impact engagement through 1) facilitating interaction, 2) organizing course materials and timelines, and 3) directly instructing students. Teacher responsibilities extend beyond discussion boards, facilitating interaction, and assessments to also include emotional support, nurturing, motivating, and monitoring, and providing guidance on organization and study skills.
• Parent Engagement: This can include facilitating interaction, helping students organize their environments, and instructing students directly. There are many overlaps with parent and teacher engagement, and extant research indicates that greater outcomes can be achieved when they work in concert. In addition to performing teacherlike duties, parents can also help improve their childrens’ learning outcomes by volunteering at the school or participating in other school activities to help reinforce the importance of the school experience in their childrens’ lives.
• Peer Engagement: Research indicates that students can help each other learn via mutual instruction and project collaboration. Still, adolescent students have less life experience than adults may need more teacher scaffolding to help them construct knowledge in collaborative contexts. Students also can help motivate fellow students.

A second fundamental hypothesis of this literature review is that all of the attempts of parents, teachers, and peers can be enhanced with modeling and social presence. A key implication is that teachers’ engagement can help encourage student engagement because it models what academic engagement online should look like, citing Bandura (1986) in asserting: “…behavior is more likely to be emulated when modeled by someone with high status.”

ADDITIONAL READINGS REVIEWED IN WEEK 15:

Caskurlu, S., Maeda, Y., Richardson, J., and Lv, J. (2020) A meta-analysis addressing the relationship between teaching presence and students’ satisfaction and learning. Computers and Education 157, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2020.103966.

Petrie J. A. C. van der Zandena, *, Paulien C. Meijera , Ronald A. Beghettob (2020) A review study about creativity in adolescence: Where is the social context? Thinking Skills and Creativity, 38: 100702. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2020.100702.

Kolyvas, S. and Nikiforos, S. (2021). Technology and Creativity on early adolescence: A case study during COVID-19 pandemic. Current Psychology 42(10): 8554-8561. DOI: 10.1007/s12144-021-02349-4

Chowkase, A. (2022). Online learning, classroom quality, and student motivation: Perspectives from students, teachers, parents, and program staff. Gifted Education International 38(1): 74-94. DOI: 10.1177/02614294211060401.

Wang, Li. (2022) Student Intrinsic Motivation for Online Creative Idea Generation: Mediating Effects of Student Online Learning Engagement and Moderating Effects of Teacher Support. Frontiers in Psychology 13, DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.954216.