Engagement vs Learning

[Dr. James Horvath] Engagement is not synonymous with learning. We have this mistaken belief that because something is engaging, you learn more from it, and that’s not true. The Engagement Learning Continuum, most people think it’s a straight line, right? As engagement goes up, learning goes up. It’s not. It’s what’s called a sign ASR, it’s an S, essentially. If you’re disengaged, if you have no engagement, you’re not learning. But as soon as you get to a moderate level of engagement, boom, you have the same opportunity to learn as someone who is wildly engaged and you see it in your own life. How many movies have you watched that have been wildly engaging, like those Thor movies? You’re there. Wow. Two weeks later you can’t tell me anything about it. But then there are other movies like Affliction, which are real hard to watch. They’re not engaging. They’re not fun. But because of what you do, the thinking you do over the next couple of weeks, years later, you still remember a ton from that. The engagement didn’t drive the learning, the learning drove the learning. Engagement simply opened a door. So I think it’s a good, it’s important to recognize, there, some people like computers because they’re engaging. Most of us don’t know what’s best for our learning. I like computers too, but I still learn better from a book. Even though I like looking at things here, I like YouTube clips. It doesn’t mean that improves our learning.