—ABOUT THE WORKSHOP—
Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL) systems — from AI-supported platforms to immersive environments and learning analytics tools — are changing how students engage with learning. Engagement is widely seen as central to learning success, yet it is often studied in fragmented ways, through isolated behavioral or cognitive indicators, rather than as the multidimensional and contextual phenomenon it actually is. Growing concerns about digital well-being, attention fragmentation, and the long-term effects of technology-mediated learning add another layer: we need frameworks that don’t just measure engagement, but help us design for it responsibly.
This workshop looks at student engagement in TEL through a reflective lens, drawing on digital ethics, positive computing, and reflective design. Together, participants will examine how educational technologies shape engagement across seven dimensions — behavioral, cognitive, emotional, social, motivational, contextual, and agentic — using a structured reflective canvas as a starting point.
The workshop follows an R2D (Reflection-to-Design) approach: individual reflection first, then collaborative synthesis, then design-oriented outcomes. Participants will compare engagement across different technologies, distinguish what’s transferable from what’s context-specific, and co-create a first set of heuristics for the ethical design and evaluation of TEL systems. Underlying all of this is a shared question: what does it mean for learners, educators, designers, and developers to take joint responsibility for meaningful, sustainable learning experiences?
The workshop is open to early-career and established researchers working in TEL and related fields, including:
- HCI researchers and designers working on learning technologies
- Educators who use TEL in their teaching practice
- Researchers studying the cognitive, emotional, and motivational dimensions of learning in digital environments
Prior to the workshop, participants receive the R2D-TEL canvas, a reflective tool developed through a literature review and interviews with TEL researchers. The canvas covers seven dimensions of engagement — behavioral, cognitive, emotional/affective, social/relational, motivational, contextual, and agentic.
Participants apply the canvas to a learning technology of their choice, reflecting either as a learner or as an educator. Guided prompts support the reflection process (for instance, on agentic engagement: how far a tool lets learners exercise control, express preferences, or shape their own learning process). Participants bring their completed canvas to the in-person session.
The day opens with a short keynote introducing the R2D-TEL project, its theoretical background, and the workshop’s objectives — setting up a shared vocabulary for discussing engagement as a multidimensional, socio-technical construct.
Group activity I — Technology-based synthesis | You’ll be grouped by the type of technology you reflected on (e.g., immersive technologies, collaborative tools, learning management systems), comparing your individual canvases with others in the group to build a shared, technology-specific picture of engagement.
Group activity II — Cross-technology reflection | Next, new mixed groups bring different technology perspectives together. Here, the discussion turns to which engagement dimensions seem technology-specific and which transfer across contexts, and you’re welcome to revisit and refine your earlier interpretations in light of the conversation.
Group activity III — Co-creating R2D-TEL heuristics | In the final phase, the group works together to develop an initial set of R2D-TEL heuristics — practical design and evaluation principles for ethical, effective, and sustainable TEL.