Conceptualizing Blended Learning Engagement
Conceptualizing Blended Learning Engagement Lisa R. Halverson Department of Instructional Psychology and Technology, BYU Doctor of Philosophy Learner engagement, or the involvement of the student's cognitive and emotional energy to accomplish a learning task, has been called "the holy grail of learning" (Sinatra, Heddy, Lombardi, 2015, p. 1) because of its correlations to academic achievement, persistence, and satisfaction. In the 21st century, learning will be increasingly "blended," combining face to face with computer mediated instruction. Research is already exploring learner engagement in blended contexts, but no theoretical framework guides inquiry or practice. Developing models and measures of the factors that facilitate learner engagement is important to the advancement of the domain. This multiple article format dissertation addresses the theoretical gap in research on learner engagement in blended settings. The first article reviews the existing literature on learner engagement, delineates a set of constructs most relevant to the contexts of blended learning, and proposes a theoretical framework for learner engagement in blended settings. The second article operationalizes and tests the proposed model of blended learning engagement using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. It creates and evaluates an end of course self report measure of cognitive and emotional engagement. The unique factor structure of online and face to face indicators of learner engagement is clearly demonstrated in the results of this study.