Examining engagement in context using experience-sampling method with mobile technology

• Published in: Contemporary educational psychology 2019-10, Vol.59, p.101788, Article 101788
• Main Authors: Xie, Kui, Heddy, Benjamin C., Vongkulluksn, Vanessa W.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Behavioral engagement; Cognitive engagement; Experience-sampling method; Learning context; Mobile learning; Self-efficacy
• ISSN: 0361-476X; 1090-2384
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cedpsych.2019.101788

•Behavioral and cognitive engagement in mobile learning vary across time and context.•ESM-Mobile affords to exam in-the-moment and person-level processes of engagement.•Self-efficacy at various grain sizes influence engagement in context differently.•Contextual features are on a continuum from person-driven to environment-driven.•Contextual features interact with self-efficacy in influencing engagement. With the affordances of mobile devices and experience-sampling method, this study took a person-in-context research orientation and examined the interactive relationship between self-efficacy, contextual features, and behavioral and cognitive engagement in authentic mobile learning contexts. Participants include 52 college students in teacher education programs. They responded to experience-sampling surveys based on the study events that they planned for the two weeks prior to exams during the semester. Regression analysis revealed that students’ course-specific self-efficacy and characteristics of planned study events were significantly associated with students’ behavioral engagement related to how well students implemented their study plans. Hierarchical regression analysis also showed that contextual features of the study environment, including study location and reasons for studying, moderated the relationship between task-specific self-efficacy and cognitive engagement. The results highlight the critical roles of self-efficacy and contextual features in influencing engagement in authentic anywhere and anytime mobile learning. The affordances and hinderances of experience-sampling method and mobile technologies in supporting engagement research were discussed.