Assessing Student Engagement Strategies? Give Your Students a Say

Student engagement is universally acknowledged as essential, leaving educators to focus on how to foster it authentically. There have been numerous studies that highlight the benefits of engagement in both traditional and online classrooms. Giving students a voice in their learning seems to be the most effective strategy. 

As Zac Malamed noted in a MindShift article, “Students want to achieve in school. They want to find purpose in school. They want to discover their talents. Without students having a voice, we cannot collectively ensure that this will all happen for every student.” Students want to be participants in the learning process, not just recipients. 

What does this look like in a modern classroom?

Today’s students are not content to passively absorb information while a teacher lectures at the front of the classroom. Strategies that foster passivity are outdated and should be limited in today’s classrooms.

In order to prepare students for success in the modern world, schools must employ strategies that help students to develop critical thinking skills. 

These skills offer real-world benefits beyond school and work. Scientific American describes critical thinking as “a collection of cognitive skills that allow us to think rationally in a goal-orientated fashion and a disposition to use those skills when appropriate.” They also note it “predicts a wide range of life events” and studies “have found that critical thinkers experience fewer bad things in life.”

Students cannot develop critical thinking skills in classrooms that lack engagement. Educators must provide opportunities to cultivate these skills through actively involving students in their learning. Students should be participants in their learning and have opportunities to think about their goals and reflect on their past experiences.

Building life experience through learning 

Professor Russell Quaglia told MindShift, “that the student voice in education is ‘the elephant in the room’—the missing piece to the puzzle of how to reform schools.” Although Quaglia noted that school reform is the end goal, student engagement was an important part of reform.

Education experts Arthur Chickering and Zelda Gamson reinforced this idea, stating “Students do not learn much just by sitting in class listening to teachers, memorizing prepackaged assignments, and spitting out answers. They must talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences, and apply it to their daily lives. They must make what they learn part of themselves.”

Ultimately, ensuring that students have a voice in the classroom is critical to motivation and engagement. This approach not only enhances their educational experience but also equips them with critical thinking skills that will benefit them throughout their lives. 

Good student / teacher relationships

Just as employees are more motivated when their opinions are valued and respected by management, students are more engaged when their efforts and perspectives are appreciated by their teachers. A strong teacher-student relationship is the foundation for a successful learning environment.

Part of developing this relationship and, ultimately motivating students, is giving students a voice. Doing so can create a more productive classroom with stronger relationships. It’s important to note that empowering students doesn’t diminish a teacher’s authority. It rather shifts the educator role to more of a guide or facilitator. 

If teachers and students function as partners in the classroom, both sides are expected to contribute, and this creates an optimal learning environment for students. 

Motivating Students

For educators, motivating students is one of the biggest challenges in a classroom. According to FutureEd, “Motivation is … an important predictor of learning and achievement. Students who are more motivated to learn persist longer, produce higher quality effort, learn more deeply, and perform better in classes and on standardized tests.”

Yet, a Gallup poll found that motivation declined as students moved into high school, with only 53% of students engaged and 19% actively disengaged. This highlights the need for a fresh approach.

The solution? Give students a voice. 

When students believe their opinions matter, they take ownership of their learning. A classroom that values student input fosters deeper, more authentic engagement. Real-world topics and applications that resonate with students’ interests and futures make lessons more relevant and meaningful.

To create this environment, educators must ask their students about their concerns and interests. When students are empowered, motivation grows, learning thrives, and essential real-world skills develop.

Using project-based learning

Project-based learning (PBL) is a great way to involve students in their learning process, which in turn, increases their engagement. Through PBL, students can explore academic concepts and interdisciplinary skills to solve real-world problems. This not only is an engaging way to interact with concepts learned in class, it often directly connects students to projects they find important.

PBL will look differently in different classrooms, but it can:

• Enable students to take ownership over their learning, as they make decisions about their project based on the information they are gathering
• Address a real-world problem
• Be a sustained inquiry into a problem
• Provide opportunities for peer reflection and instructor feedback
• Provide an opportunity to present their project to a public audience

In practice: A successful case study

A Linked Learning school in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) provides a great example of how educators can utilize PBL learning to provide a holistic approach to teaching. There are four components–rigorous academics, career technical education, work-based learning, and comprehensive support services–in a Linked Learning approach, and this school in Los Angeles used Xello to facilitate their approach. 

National Board Certified teacher Alicia Reyes shares that when she started using Xello Portfolios, it not only eased her work, but she found that students were more engaged and excited about their work. 

Reyes also shared that she was concerned about a particular student’s level of engagement, but found that when questioned, the student was able to respond with specific information about careers and salaries. This is a great example of how Portfolios can be used to engage students who are typically disengaged. 

Fostering independence and responsibility

Giving students a voice in their learning is a powerful way to boost engagement and create meaningful educational experiences. When students take an active role in their education, they develop critical thinking, motivation, and a sense of purpose that goes beyond the classroom. 

Open communication and approaches like project-based learning create a collaborative environment where students feel heard, valued, and invested in their own success. As the world changes, our classrooms need to change too—becoming places where students are partners in their learning journey, with the skills and confidence to succeed in life.

How Xello can help

The Feed sparks students’ curiosity and exposes them to options they might not have considered, encouraging self-directed exploration. 

The content on the Feed is tailored to students, so they can stay up-to-date with topics that matter most to them. The content is designed to look and feel like their familiar platforms, so students will be motivated to interact with the feed. They will also be provided with information that will help them make informed decisions. The Dashboard feed is an exciting way for students to engage with material that matters.

Xello Portfolios allows students to highlight and reflect on their self-exploration with photos, videos and journal entries (See link to best practices blog above). Through Portfolios, students can create and share portfolios that showcase their work across all of their subject areas. This provides ample opportunities for reflection and goal setting. It truly gives students ownership over their learning. 

About Me gives students the opportunity to go on a self-exploration journey with fun simple exercises.  provides a space for students to reflect on themselves and what makes them unique. They can use this module to capture their interests, skills, preferences, experiences, and achievements. It’s a great way for students to reflect on where they are in comparison to where they want to be. 

The Explore Options feature equips students to discover, on their own, careers and the college and majors that will get them there. This feature allows students to learn more about careers, majors, and colleges, and will help them make informed decisions about their post-secondary journey.