As experienced teacher scholars, we know that engagement is important in any instructional setting; however engagement in the classroom is often determined by the colloquial statement, “I know it when I see it”. Instruments, such as the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) focus on in-class observation and are thus limited to what occurs in the classroom. The question now becomes: with the advent of modern technologies are there better ways to measure student engagement outside of just observation. One such tool, that we believe can be utilized to measure student engagement outside of the classroom, is The CN (thecn.com). The CN is a course management system (CMS or LMS) like blackboard, canvas, etc. Unlike these CMS that typically only transmit information, the CI encourages student to engage with the material. In this talk I will give an overview of the software and also how we are planning to use it to research student engagement.
