Determining the role of technology in student engagement and examining of the relationships between student engagement and technology use in class

In recent years, it has been observed that as a result of the decrease in student engagement, a number of students drop out school, end their formal education process, fail in and skip some of their classes and fail to carry out certain tasks and homework assigned to them. In order for students to complete their education processes successfully and to achieve successful learning outcomes, it is important that they have high levels of engagement and maintain the permanence of this engagement. In line with the current changing world of technology, the objectives of education, students' demands, their expectations and their interests change as well. Thus, technology should be integrated into educational environments so that especially today's students born and trained in technology culture can enjoy their educational environments, demonstrate effective participation in educational environments and achieve successful learning. For these reasons, researchers investigate the tools, methods and strategies to increase students' levels of engagement. In this respect, the related role of technology is an issue of concern for many researchers. In the present study, the purpose was to determine the role of technology in student engagement and to examine the relationships between technology use in class and student engagement. Furthermore, the study aimed at investigating the factors influential on student engagement and the student engagement construct. The study was designed with the mixed method using quantitative and qualitative research paradigms. The qualitative dimension of the study was designed as a case study, while its quantitative dimension was designed with the correlational survey method. The participants of the qualitative dimension of the study were a total of 45 student teachers attending Education Faculty at Anadolu University in the Spring Term of the academic year of 2012-2013. The research data regarding the quantitative dimension of the study were collected from 1219 student teachers attending Education Faculty at Anadolu University in the Fall Term of the academic year of 2013-2014. In order to collect the qualitative research data, the semi-structured interview method and the composition data collection method and technique were used, and the data collected were analyzed with the content analysis method. While collecting the quantitative data, the "Student Engagement Scale" and the "Scale for Tendency towards Technology Use in Class" were used, and for the analysis of the data collected, correlation, ANOVA, EFA, CFA, cluster and path analyses were applied. The qualitative findings of the study revealed that the components constituting student engagement were class engagement and campus engagement. The factors influencing class engagement were classified in three dimensions such as those related to the faculty member, class-related and student-related. Accordingly, relationships with the faculty member and the benefit of the course to the student were found to be among the most important factors in student engagement. In addition, the qualitative findings demonstrated that technology had a facilitator role in meeting the course commitments as well as in teaching the class and that it did not contribute to student engagement. However, in order for instructional use of technology in class and out of class to have a high level of contribution to the increase in student engagement, the infrastructure of technology should be established and effective integration of technology into class should be achieved; otherwise, this situation would have negative influence on student engagement. The quantitative research findings revealed a positive correlation between technology use in class and the level of student engagement. In addition, the Campus-Class-Technology Model, according to the qualitative findings, was tested with path. As a result of the analyses conducted regarding the model, it was found out that the variables of value and belonging predicted emotional engagement while emotional engagement predicted behavioral engagement. Lastly, behavioral engagement predicted cognitive engagement. Within the scope of the model, technology was found to be one of the causes which predicted and increased class engagement. The result of the study revealed that use and effective integration of technology in class and out of class increased student engagement or had a facilitator role in the development of student engagement. Also, depending on the results obtained, several suggestions were put forward for implementation, higher education institutions and the research to increase student engagement. Keywords: Student engagement, campus engagement, class engagement, student engagement scale, technology, higher education