Students' engagement in technology rich classrooms and its relationship to professors' conceptions of effective teaching

This study examined dimensions of student engagement in technology rich classrooms and the relationship of this engagement to professors' conceptions of effective teaching. We collected questionnaire data from 332 students and analysed the data in relation to the finding of another study (Authors, forthcoming) involving 13 professors' course-specific conceptions of effective teaching. Principal component analysis with varimax rotation revealed four dimensions of student engagement: cognitive and applied engagement, social engagement, reflective engagement and goal clarity. Subsequent multivariate and univariate analyses of variance showed that the extent of students' cognitive and applied engagement and social engagement is related significantly to professors' conceptions of effective teaching. The study has implication on design and assessment of technology-rich learning environments and on faculty development programs involving technology use in their teaching.