Student disengagement is a genuine problem for educational institutes. According to a poll involving almost one million students in the United States, only half felt engaged in school, and one-fifth were actively disengaged. 

Student disengagement might impact absenteeism levels and academic performance, which means it’s crucial for secondary and post-secondary educational facilities to take action. However, being able to fix the problem relies on knowing what causes it. Here are some of the top reasons for disengagement among students. 

Teachers Aren’t Trying to Engage Students

Many teachers, tutors, professors, and lecturers take a hands-off approach to teaching. They might provide students with the resources they need to succeed but don’t encourage active learning, such as with games from Slides With Friends, question-and-answer sessions, interactive lectures, and hands-on activities. 

Not all students can absorb information from presentation slides or a teacher reading data from a book. Incorporating a variety of teaching techniques might result in increased engagement and possibly even higher academic performance rates. 

Lectures Are Too Long

Even if you’re interested in a subject being taught at an educational institution, that doesn’t mean you can remain actively engaged for several hours. While there can be a lot of course content to work through in the average class, it can be much harder for students to absorb information if it’s provided in a two or three-hour lecture as opposed to a much shorter one. 

According to studies, traditional 50-minute lectures are still common practice at many universities and colleges, but students’ attention span declines after 10 to 15 minutes. Many experts say that students can typically only mentally focus in 15-minute increments, which means a lecture session should last no longer than 10 to 15 minutes to accommodate their attention spans. 

No Real World Application

Many students in secondary and post-secondary institutes question the educational value of what they’re learning in classrooms versus what they need to know to do well in the real world.  Reading assignments and tests form a significant part of the average study program, but they often fail to integrate current events and real-world discussions to bring relevance to what’s being learned. Teachers might see the value in modifying their programs to ensure students learn a real-world application for what they’re studying. 

Refusal to Adapt to Digital Advancements

While studies have found that laptop use in classrooms can be distracting, there is still value in teachers adapting their teaching techniques to accommodate new and potentially helpful technology. 

The COVID-19 pandemic even taught us how crucial it could be to adapt when professors found it challenging to hold digital classes amid stay-at-home orders. If professors and teachers don’t adopt a hybrid approach to teaching, such as allowing the use of digital tools and permitting students to attend lectures digitally, they might notice less engagement and potentially even fewer enrollments. 

Not all classes can be successfully transitioned online, such as those that require a significant amount of networking, but many can be. Setting up virtual classrooms rather than requiring in-person attendance might positively impact attendance and engagement more than you think. 

Student engagement can’t be improved in all situations, especially if some students aren’t willing to put time and effort into succeeding in their chosen program. However, academic professionals can sometimes play a role in poor engagement. Make changes to course content delivery, and engagement levels might rise.