Hidden Barriers to Student Engagement
Meaningful learning requires mental effort. Students should wrestle with new ideas, solve unfamiliar problems, and rethink what they already know. It is through this process of actively making sense of new information that learning becomes more durable. That kind of effort is what helps learning stick.
Not all effort, however, contributes to learning in the same way.
Before students begin analyzing a reading, solving a problem, or participating in a discussion, they are already making sense of the learning experience itself. They are interpreting instructions, deciding where to begin, determining whether they have everything they need, and trying to understand what's expected of them. These tasks may seem minor, but they pull from the same limited mental resources students need for learning.
One way to think about these unnecessary demands is through the idea of friction. The term describes anything that makes progress toward a goal more difficult than it needs to be. While it is often associated with design, it also provides a useful lens for thinking about online learning. Every unnecessary decision or obstacle asks students to spend mental energy on the mechanics of the course rather than on the ideas the course is trying to teach.
Of course, not every barrier originates within a course. Students balance work, family responsibilities, health concerns, financial pressures, and countless other commitments that shape how they learn. Those realities are beyond the reach of course design, making it all the more important for us to remove barriers from the environment we do have control over. The learning experience itself is something instructors can influence, and even small improvements can make a meaningful difference.
Mental Effort Is a Limited Resource
Educational psychologist John Sweller's work on Cognitive Load Theory reminds us that working memory has a limited capacity (Sweller, 2011). When students are simultaneously trying to decipher instructions, locate materials, and understand how an activity works, those tasks compete with the mental effort needed to interpret information, recognize patterns, and build new understanding.
This doesn't mean courses should become easier. Productive learning often requires sustained effort, uncertainty, and intellectual struggle. Students benefit from struggling with challenging ideas, not from struggling to navigate the learning experience itself. The distinction is where that effort is directed.
Consider the first few minutes after a student opens an assignment. Before engaging with the content, they may be asking themselves: What exactly am I supposed to do? Have I found everything I need? Does this connect to something we've already done? Every unanswered question creates another demand for attention before any learning has even begun.
A vague instruction, an activity with an unclear purpose, or a sequence of unnecessary steps may seem insignificant on its own. Most of these moments are subtle but over time, these small demands accumulate. Rather than one obvious obstacle, students experience a series of interruptions that gradually make it more difficult to maintain focus and momentum.
Designing Learning Experiences That Support Attention
One of the advantages of thoughtful course design is that it allows students to devote more of their attention to the work that matters most. Sometimes that means explaining why an activity is important before asking students to complete it. Sometimes it means simplifying directions, reducing unnecessary decisions, or providing an example of expected work. None of these changes lower expectations or reduce academic rigor. Instead, they remove distractions that compete with learning.
Thinking about course design in this way also shifts how we interpret student engagement. When students appear hesitant to begin an assignment or disengage partway through a course, motivation may not be the only explanation. It is worth asking whether aspects of the learning experience are placing unnecessary demands on their attention. Students' lives are complex, and many of the challenges they face exist outside the classroom. While we are unable to reduce the friction students face outside of the classroom, the learning environment we create for them is within our control. The aspects of the course that influence attention, mental effort and engagement are worthwhile places to focus our design efforts.
Ultimately, effective course design requires us to remove unnecessary challenges to ensure that students' energy is reserved for learning.
Resources
Sweller, J. (2011). Cognitive load theory. Psychology of Learning and Motivation, 55, 37–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-387691-1.00002-8
Read this article on Why Students Get Lost in Your Course (and How to Fix It) to find useful tips for reducing the friction and improving engagement for your students. To learn more about online teaching and learning strategies, visit our Resource Library.