Introduction: The Engagement Crisis

Only 38% of U.S. college students say they feel "actively engaged" in their studies, according to the 2023 Lumina/Gallup State of Higher Education survey.

That means a majority of undergraduates—and nearly half of graduate students—are experiencing at least some level of disengagement. This disengagement has ripple effects not only on student success, but also on workforce preparedness and civic participation.

Engagement is no longer a secondary concern: it is a central challenge for higher education today.

What Do We Mean by Student Engagement?

Student engagement is commonly defined as the time and effort students devote to educationally purposeful activities, both inside and outside the classroom, and the degree to which institutions encourage this involvement (NSSE, 2022). Engagement spans multiple dimensions:

Classroom participation and effort
Emotional and cognitive investment in learning
Preparation and academic behaviors (e.g., reading, homework)
Collaboration with peers and faculty
Involvement in research, career preparation, and campus life

Classroom Participation & Academic Effort

Class attendance has fallen sharply. SERU data from 22 large public research universities (≈1.1 million undergraduates) show that by 2022–23, students were spending about 1.5 fewer hours per week in class, labs, or discussion sections than they did in 2018–19. This decline was consistent across majors and year levels.
Peer interaction outside class is down. In the Computing Research Association’s Data Buddies Survey, the share of freshmen who interacted with classmates outside lectures at least weekly dropped from ~68% in 2019 to ~56% in 2020, rebounding only slightly to ~58% in 2021. Seniors showed a similar decline (71% → 66% → 63%). 
Faculty–student connections have weakened. In the SERU survey, the proportion of students reporting that a professor knew their name fell by 15 percentage points between 2019 and 2021, and by 2023 had recovered only partially—still 7 points below pre-pandemic levels.

Research, Career, and Campus Involvement

Participation in faculty-mentored research declined from 25% of students in 2018–19 to 20% in 2022–23.
On-campus employment is down: fewer students hold campus jobs, and those who do work spend ~1 hour less per week compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Internship and practicum participation also decreased between 2019 and 2023.
Extracurricular involvement has dropped: nearly one-third of students now spend zero hours per week on clubs or campus organizations, a share that rises to ~50% among community college and part-time working students.
By 2022, fewer students than ever reported holding leadership roles in student organizations or participating in community service and service-learning projects.

In sum, multiple studies of today’s college students point to widespread disengagement: lower collaboration, less class preparation, and reduced participation in enriching activities.

This convergence of evidence indicates an urgent engagement problem – one that innovative approaches (e.g. interactive active-learning models like Breakout Learning) aim to address by making learning more hands-on and participatory.

Preliminary Findings

While more robust efficacy studies are currently underway, recent independent student surveys conducted by instructors who've implemented Breakout Learning in their classrooms indicate promising early results for addressing student engagement challenges. Three educators across different institutional contexts have gathered student feedback data that suggests AI-enhanced discussion platforms may offer meaningful improvements in collaborative learning behaviors.

Student Survey Results

Dr. Peter Simonson tested Breakout Learning in large university classes

Engagement Gains: Students showed significant increases on 7 engagement questions, including equal participation and quality of group discussions. For example, disagreement dropped from 40% to 20% on the statement “everyone contributes equally”
Confidence in Mastery: Post-Breakout, agreement with “I feel confident in analyzing and creating a launch strategy” rose from 62% to 95%

Conclusion

At Breakout, we are encouraged by what we’re hearing from students and professors alike. Across classrooms and contexts, feedback consistently shows that Breakout Learning helps students engage more deeply, share ideas more openly, and feel more confident in their mastery of the material. Professors, too, have noted how the structure fosters richer, more balanced discussions that might not happen in traditional settings.

Of course, these are still early days. Larger-scale, multi-institutional research will be needed to fully understand the impact. But the initial results are promising—and, just as importantly, the student voices behind them are clear. Students appreciate the structure, interactivity, and peer-to-peer dialogue that Breakout enables.

We also take their critiques seriously. Calls for more flexible navigation, clearer grading calibration, and reduced repetitiveness are guiding our next wave of improvements. Breakout Learning is not a finished product—it’s a growing, evolving tool shaped by the very learners and educators who use it.

State of Student Engagement in Higher Education (U.S.)