Factors that Predict Student Engagement in Online Learning: HarvardX Case Study (original) (raw)

Students' engagement characteristics predict success and completion of online courses

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning

This study examined students' engagement characteristics in online courses and their impact on academic achievements, trying to distinguish between course completers and noncompleters. Moreover, this research is intended to differentiate between those who pass the final exam and those who do not. Four online courses were examined with a similar pedagogical model (N students = 646) using learning analytics methods. The results revealed significant differences between students who completed the courses and students who did not, in all 13 variables. Completers' learning activities were more than twice as high, except for writing in the forums. Course subject and ongoing task and assignment submissions predicted course completion, whereas, in addition to these variables, engagement with course materials and reading the forums predicted final exam success, as well. Thus, the prediction of success in final exam emphasized the significant importance of engagement in various activities in the online course.

Measuring Student Engagement in the Online Course: The Online Student Engagement Scale (OSE)

Online Learning, 2015

Student engagement is critical to student learning, especially in the online environment, where students can often feel isolated and disconnected. Therefore, teachers and researchers need to be able to measure student engagement. This study provides validation of the Online Student Engagement scale (OSE) by correlating student self-reports of engagement (via the OSE) with tracking data of student behaviors from an online course management system. It hypothesized that reported student engagement on the OSE would be significantly correlated with two types of student behaviors: observational learning behaviors (i.e., reading e-mails, reading discussion posts, viewing content lectures and documents) and application learning behaviors (posting to forums, writing e-mails, taking quizzes). The OSE was significantly and positively correlated with application learning behaviors. Results are discussed along with potential uses of the OSE by researchers and online instructors.

The Relationship Between Student Engagement and Academic Performance in Online Education

2021

In recent years, online education has become a mature, recognised, and heavily used alternative for delivering higher education programmes. Beyond its benefits, online education faces a number of challenges, some of which relate to its engagement and impact on student performance. To support the ongoing research into the complex relationships developed, this research investigated the relationship between engagement and academic performance for students that undertake standalone online programmes. The study uses as input the module content engagement data, as collected from an e-learning platform, including the number of content views, forum posts, completed assignments, and watching of videos. The study used Pearson correlation to evaluate the relationship between learner engagement and academic performance. The analysis revealed that the student engagement was positively correlated to the student performance both for individual modules as well as across the cohort. In addition, correlation between initial engagement with individual subjects and the overall engagement was also strong, indicating both variables lead to improved academic results.

Keep Learning: Student Engagement in an Online Environment

Online Learning

Student engagement is a key factor in promoting learning and academic achievement. This study explores the factors underlying student engagement and the best practices advocated by students and faculty to engage students. Results revealed that student motivation to learn and self-efficacy are positively associated with student engagement. In addition, self-efficacy partially mediated the relationship between motivation to learn and student engagement. Finally, both faculty and students suggested diverse and inclusive techniques to engage students. Online education may become our new reality, and adjustment to this new world requires shifting to a new pedagogical paradigm.

Student Perceptions of Engagement in Online Courses: An Exploratory Study

Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 2019

Given the increasing numbers of students who choose to learn online, educators should understand the conditions necessary for student success in this environment. Previous studies have documented that student engagement is essential to student learning, retention, persistence, and satisfaction. In this descriptive qualitative study, we sought to understand how students conceptualize engagement in online courses as well as to understand what elements students perceive to be engaging. For this work, we interviewed or surveyed 40 students who shared their perceptions of engagement in online courses. We uncovered several key themes related to types of engagement including behavioral engagement, cognitive engagement, social engagement, emotional engagement, and agentic engagement. Additionally, the students described specific course elements they find engaging. We offer suggestions for distance learning administrators and instructional designers who wish to work with instructors on engag...

A Predictive Model to Evaluate Students’ Cognitive Engagement in Online Learning

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2014

The expanding usage of online learning at all levels of education has drawn attention to the quality of online learning. In this study, online learning quality is evaluated through students' cognitive engagement which is reflected in their online written messages in discussions and their online participation. This study proposes the use of two types of data: students' participation, and written messages. Both types of data was collected and analyzed using the data mining technique to produce a predictive model that illustrates students' pathways while engaging in online learning cognitively. The findings of this study indicate that from 22 variables, only two were significant for students' online cognitive engagement; sharing information and posting highlevel messages. The two variables led to the formation of three different pathways in the students' predictive model.

Students Engagement in E-Learning Environments—A Comprehensive Model: Measurement, Evaluation, and Recommendations

Journal of Al-Azhar University Engineering Sector, 2021

Online learning has become at the core of education systems, especially after the Corona pandemic. Noteworthy, LMS (Learning Management System) records all students' actions, which is difficult in traditional education systems, which, if properly analyzed, can give a clear picture of the student's learning behavior. This study focuses on measuring and analyzing students’ engagement with courses, thus providing students, teachers, and academic advisors with recommendations for improvement. Research has shown that the more students’ engagement the higher the success rate. Therefore, we consider high engagement as a key success indicator in an education system. This research identified the system-interaction attributes influencing the student’s engagement with a course. It integrates those attributes into a model for measuring and evaluating the degree of student’s engagement—the LAST-CASE Model. The LAST-CASE model is designed to measure the different engagement dimensions, su...

Impact of Student Engagement in Online Learning Environments

Optimizing Student Engagement in Online Learning Environments

Online learning is a fast-growing technology in an educational field which uses internet as a media to deliver the educational contents to the students. The main research area in online learning is to identify the disengaged learners and motivate them. The success of online learning systems depends on how quickly it identifies the disengaged learners and techniques used to reengage them. Through this chapter, we are going to discuss briefly about the online learning, advantages and disadvantages of online learning, importance of motivation in online learning, types of motivation, the motivational theories related to student engagement and finally discuss about various disengagement detection techniques in online learning.