Engagement, disengagement and performance when learning with technologies in upper secondary school

Students need to engage in order to learn. As digitalisation changes the conditions for learning, it is essential to consider how student engagement might be affected. This study explores the relationship between student engagement (and disengagement) in technology-enhanced learning (TEL) and academic outcomes. More specifically, we developed and distributed an instrument to second and third year upper secondary school students (n=410), and matched the student responses with their school grades. The instrument was further validated using principal component analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Using a bivariate correlation test, a one-way ANOVA test, and a post hoc test, we then analysed the associations between low-, average-, and high-performance students and their reported engagement and disengagement when learning with technologies. Results show that high-performance students find it easier to concentrate when working with learning technologies than do average and low performers. We also found significant correlations between low grades and reported time spent on social media and streaming media for other purposes than learning (e.g., YouTube) and significant correlations between a decrease in students' performance and the occurrence of unauthorised multi-tasking via learning technologies while in class: the lower the grades, the more frequently students reported using digital technologies to escape when lessons were boring. Conclusively: high-performance students seem to have developed strategies to use digital technologies in supportive and productive ways. Thus, in order for schools to use digital technologies to ensure that disadvantaged students do not remain disadvantaged when learning with technologies and to not replicate problems in analogue classroom interactions, insights how different performance groups engage and disengage in TEL is critical for learning.