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The integration of digital technologies into education has brought about a profound transformation, fundamentally reshaping the learning landscape. The purpose of this study is to underscore the importance of investigating the factors influencing students’ engagement (SE) in this evolving digital era, particularly within formal digital learning environments. To address this need, the study is grounded in self-determination theory (SDT) and presents a comprehensive model comprising interconnected elements: digital competence (DC), smartphone use (SPU), perceived autonomy (PA), digital formal learning (DFL) and SE.

The research conducted an investigation within Saudi Arabian universities, collecting a robust data set of 392 cases. This data set underwent rigorous analysis to validate the proposed model. To untangle the intricate relationships within the framework, the study used partial least squares structural equation modelling. Given the distinct dimensions of the two constructs under study, the researcher used a disjoint two-stage approach to establish reflective-formative higher-order constructs (HOC).

The findings revealed that digital literacy and digital skills (DS) constitute the foundational constituents of DC. Simultaneously, the study identified facilitation, distraction and connectedness as integral components of SPU. Importantly, the study established that DC, SPU, PA and DFL significantly influence SE. Furthermore, the research illuminated the mediating roles played by SPU, PA and DFL in the complex relationship between DC and SE.

This study advances the literature by delineating the dynamic interplay between DC, SPU and SE in digital learning. It extends SDT within educational contexts, emphasizing the role of internal motivations and DS. Methodologically, it innovates through reflective-formative HOCs, deepening the analysis of complex educational constructs. Managerially, it guides institutions in enhancing DC and integrating smartphones effectively into learning, advocating for tailored strategies to foster engaging and autonomous digital learning environments, thereby enriching both theoretical understanding and practical application in education.

Chapter 6 synthesizes the psychophysics of sensation into a plausible model for the design and configuration of the learning engagement dimension of a learning system. In sensation, the task is to collect and review stochastic information collected from an external stimulus. In learning systems design, the task is the opposite: to design learning objects and activities that communicate the intended learning to the learner effectively and efficiently. The sensation systems focus their attention on the structure of the stimulus. Likewise, a psychophysical learning system emphasizes the interconnections within categories of content to configure the learning experiences. The curriculum embeds this information into a learning plan.

The flipped classroom model is an emerging teaching pedagogy in universities, colleges and secondary schools. This model will likely be successful if students prepare and acquire basic knowledge before class hours. Pre-class video lectures are common for students to access knowledge before class hours. However, students often do not watch the pre-class videos or do so only immediately before class hours due to poor engagement and supporting strategies, which can have detrimental effects on their learning achievement. To address this issue, embedding quiz questions into pre-class recorded videos may increase the completion of pre-class activities, students' engagement and learning success. This study examines the effect of a quiz-based flipped classroom (QFC) model to improve students' learning achievement and engagement in a computer science course.

The study involved 173 participants divided into experimental and control groups. The experimental group consisted of 78 students who used the QFC model, while the control group consisted of 73 students who used the conventional flipped classroom (CFC) model.

The 10-week experiment showed that the QFC model effectively improved students' learning achievement and engagement (both behavioral and agentic) compared to the CFC model.

Embedding quiz strategy into the pre-class video demonstrated the potential support to enhance the efficacy of the CFC model. Based on the results of this research, the authors recommended that flipped educators can use the quiz strategy to minimize pre-class issues (especially students' disengagement).

This research adds to the existing literature by evaluating the effect of the newly proposed model on students' learning outcomes and engagement. This study's results can guide colleges and universities intending to implement a blended learning or flipped learning model. The research also gives design, content and course implementation guidelines, which can help engage students to achieve their learning objectives.

The higher education world around us is changing fast. Mobile learning (M-learning) and apps in education are new and exciting. However, this does not mean that the faculty is less relevant. On the contrary, the faculty are an ever-important factor that is needed to increase student engagement. Disengaged students are in fact more problematic than low achieving students. This is because of the disruption disengaged student bring in the classroom. Therefore, increasing student engagement is a key challenge in higher education today. Research suggests that active learning, value and expectations are important factors that determine student engagement. Some of these factors can be indirectly influenced by the faculty and course designers. Against this background, the objective of this chapter is to examine if dwindling student engagement in higher education can be addressed with CURPA, i.e. a CURriculum and course planning (CURP) App. CURPA is the result of our efforts at Utrecht University to help design courses and curricula by using cards to account for different activities, with the strategic aim being to stimulate student engagement in higher education. Our expert interviews resulted in a MoSCoW-prioritised list of requirements that can be implemented over time, structured in line with Becker's student engagement model.

The development of information technologies has led to the rapid evolution of learning approaches and educational solutions, with a focus on active learning. In the context of the transformative learning paradigm, active learning strategies are aligned with student-centered education, enabling learners to engage with complex concepts and practical challenges critically. This chapter presents a semi-structured literature review investigating the adoption of online active learning methods in the context of economics education and its potential to promote transformative learning. The main contribution of this chapter is the development of a framework for integrating online active learning strategies in economics education, grounded in the principles of transformative learning as described by Mezirow. The proposed framework highlights the importance of designing online learning experiences that support critical reflection, dialogue, and self-directed learning and suggests strategies for promoting student engagement and collaboration in the online environment. The impact of this approach on active learning practices in (higher) education is significant, as it provides educators with a roadmap for designing online learning experiences that foster transformative learning and promote student success in the post-pandemic era. The chapter concludes with policy recommendations and future research directions for enhancing the adoption and efficacy of online active learning strategies in economics education.

The growing body of research on student engagement in online writing courses suggests that learning management system (LMS) technology does not by itself create an interactive learning situation nor does it automatically engage students in meaningful interactions with their peers and the instructor. Traditional top-down engagement strategies such as a discussion forum, we argue, have not worked to increase student-to-student engagement in the online environment, confirming our contention that students’ notions of engagement and quality are different from instructors’. Engagement should be re-envisioned as a student-centered effort, wherein educators take on the responsibility of implementing strategies that promote student-to-student engagement. This chapter, then, reconceptualizes approaches to student engagement in online writing-intensive classes. It examines how virtual learning environments challenge traditional notions of student engagement, offers some innovative learner–instructor engagement strategies that can be marshaled to improve student learning, and addresses the challenges and successes of this undertaking, in an effort to establish a meaningful and sustainable student-centered online writing classroom.

The purpose of this study was to obtain valuable insights into students’ engagement and experiences within the virtual learning environment, especially in the context of crises. Among the innumerable challenges people throughout the world faced during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, those of students in institutions of higher education needing to engage in online academic studies are of special interest. Using an online survey, this study could predict students’ online engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic through three theoretical frameworks: the students’ academic motivation to study, the Big Five personality traits, and loneliness, and with a new tool measuring the participation in the Zoom platform.

To examine the psychological and technological factors predicting the students’ engagement, this study surveyed 547 students from different academic institutions of higher learning.

Findings show that the less lonely the students felt, the less neurotic they were, and the higher they scored in levels of extroversion, agreeableness, consciousnesses and openness to experience, the greater their engagement in their academic studies. In addition, students who were older, more educated, with higher intrinsic motivation and lower lack of motivation were more engaged in their online academic studies. Finally, participating in classes through the Zoom platform and experiencing it positively was a significant predictor of higher academic engagement.

Recognizing these factors can enable educators, institutions of higher learning, counselling services and students to obtain tools for higher engagement in online learning.

In this paper the authors have sought to create solid connection between theory and practices pertaining to the immense value of students' emotional engagement in online instruction. This conceptual paper is motivated by the inadequacy of literature translating the emotional engagement concept to the micro level of online instructions within the upsurge intention to the new trend of online teaching-learning. This paper aims to contribute by addressing the fundamental issues of emotional engagement starting from revisiting the roles of teachers in students' emotional engagement, reviewing and underscoring the importance of students' emotional engagement in higher education and finally conceptualizing and framing how to infuse emotional engagement into the instructions.

The explanation of how to advocate for students' emotional engagement in online learning praxis is inadequately discussed although the library of literature has informed the fundamental role of students' emotional engagement in establishing successful online learning. This paper aims to address this practical need by interactively connecting the theory, empirical findings and pedagogical practices in the area to provide praxeological contribution to the development of quality online teaching-learning practices.

This study presents a framework that advances the existing body of research at the juncture of emotional engagement and online learning. This conceptual paper foregrounds an examination of the roles of teachers in students' emotional engagement and underscores the significance of students' emotional engagement in higher education. Moreover, it proposes a conceptual framework delineating effective strategies for the integration of emotional engagement within instructional methodologies. This framework comprises four key aspects: (1) fostering students' learning autonomy and ownership, (2) establishing socioemotional construction through verbal and non-verbal expressions, (3) integrating a multimodal approach to online learning and (4) honing the art of constructive feedback.

This conceptual paper is rooted in a nested theory and draws upon empirical studies. While the presented framework holds promise, its efficacy in the classroom setting requires validation through further empirical investigation.

Those proposed pedagogical strategies detailed with the practical examples explained in the previous part would afford students with a better socioemotional amenities of learning environment benefitting them with positive affective engagement.

Given the imperative to enhance students' emotional engagement in online learning and the limited discourse surrounding its practical implementation, the proposed framework stands poised to enrich and inform online pedagogical practices.

The main purpose of this study is aimed to estimate the mediating role of student engagement in the structural relationships between students' field of study choice, learning readiness and academic competence of undergraduate students in higher education.

In the study process, a correlational design was employed. Data were collected from 419 participants who were selected through a simple random sampling technique. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the data.

The study findings showed neither field of study choice nor learning readiness has a significant direct effect on student's academic competence. However, when student engagement, entered the relationships between “field of study choice and academic competence” as well as “learning readiness and academic competence”, the indirect effects became significant. Both conditions, therefore, suggesting student engagement had a full mediation role in the structural relationship models.

Based on the results, it can be concluded that student engagement is shown as one of the key variables used to comprehend how students develop competence in the teaching-learning process. Hence, teachers and academic administrators could use engagement as a strong instrument to optimize students' learning and academic competence to enhance their academic success.

This paper examines the role of Information Technology and pupil engagement in fostering learning outcomes in a non-reading culture context at foundation level of education.

The authors adopted a cross-sectional survey design with quantitative approaches. A sample of 412 was drawn from a population of 1,692 Primary Schools. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using the SPSS software.

Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) usage had positive and significant effects on pupil engagement and pupil learning outcomes. Pupil engagement moderated in the relationship between ICT usage and pupils' learning outcomes.

The cross-sectional design used in data collection may not monitor learning outcomes of the given samples over a longer period of time. Future studies should consider longitudinal research designs so that the behaviors of the learners can be observed over a long period of time.

Deliberate efforts to advocate for and promote the use of ICTs in primary schools are important if the schools are to foster pupils' engagements and register better learning outcomes.

The study confirms pupil engagement as a moderator in the relationship between ICT usage and learning outcomes at foundational levels of education in a resource poor country with a non-reading culture.