Tracking Student (Dis)Engagement Through the Pandemic: What Colleges & Universities Can Do to Foster an Engagement Reset

Abstract

The conditions of the pandemic beginning in March 2020 and ensuing changes in mode of instruction and limitations on co-curricular and experiential learning opportunities presented a significant disruption for higher education. Now in the third year of the coronavirus pandemic, we have evidence of the enduring impact on students and learning the identification of a pandemic-induced strain of student disengagement. In this essay, I examine evidence for student engagement during the pandemic and discuss what these findings suggest for current claims about disengagement. Documenting student experiences and outcomes of this generation-defining experience is important to higher education history and to addressing current realities in colleges and universities such as the purported problem of disengagement. Student engagement results provide a window into what is contributing to students’ struggles and disengagement, illuminate strengths upon which to build, and afford insights for colleges and universities to reset student engagement.