The Koru Model – Factors Affecting Engagement

The Koru Model provides a visual, holistic metaphor of a community of individuals inhabiting a complex, life-long learning ecosystem. The Koru Model can be used as a checklist for considering optional sources of information as well as factors that impact an individual’s engagement with information and use of it. The model can be useful when producing or evaluating communication strategies and dissemination resources. It can be used in a wide range of contexts, providing guidance for persuasive health and environmental communication as well as science outreach and life-long learning. The Koru Model provides a visualisation of the complexity of internal and external factors that affect individuals’ engagement with information. The Koru Model focuses on individuals receiving information. This attention to factors impacting reception of information flips the emphasis of science communication from the communicator to the audience. A new iteration of the Koru Model will be presented.