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Book part
Publication date: 22 August 2022

Lelokwane Mokgalo, Alice Njoroge and Mercy Musikavanhu

Emergency situations call for effective means of providing quality education. Higher education institutions are therefore required to use effective and efficient online approaches…

Abstract

Emergency situations call for effective means of providing quality education. Higher education institutions are therefore required to use effective and efficient online approaches for teaching and learning which necessitate students, academic practitioners and institutions to engage and interact with each other successfully. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the importance of interaction and engagement in the use of blended learning online tools during emergency situations. The theoretical lens that informs the chapter is social constructivism which argues that learning is a social endeavour. The literature findings show that the effective engagement of students contributes to the overall quality of students’ produced experiences as well as pass rates. Furthermore, the importance of student–lecturer engagement and student–content engagement cannot be taken for granted. The right balance of synchronous and asynchronous online learning tools contributes to fruitful interaction and engagement. Online engagement seems to have many benefits as compared to conventional based engagement such as the ability of students to contribute to their teaching and learning. Despite these advantages, challenges associated with online learning such as balancing life commitments, confidence, students’ approach to learning, high investment costs in resources, motivation, competences of lecturers and students, interest of lecturers and students and efficacy of lecturers and students cannot be ignored. The authors therefore recommend that effective and efficient online learning requires the correct blend of online learning tools accompanied by the correct engagement strategies.

Details

The Emerald Handbook of Higher Education in a Post-Covid World: New Approaches and Technologies for Teaching and Learning
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80382-193-1

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Book part
Publication date: 4 November 2021

Ramashego Shila Shorty Mphahlele and Matlala Violet Makokotlela

This chapter employed a systemic meta-synthesis literature review to reflect on the transactional variables of the theory of transactional distance (TTD) in addressing barriers to…

Abstract

This chapter employed a systemic meta-synthesis literature review to reflect on the transactional variables of the theory of transactional distance (TTD) in addressing barriers to student engagement in the open and distance learning (ODL). Literature sources were obtained from unlimited databases around the globe; however, articles published before 2015 were not included in this review. Through the literature review, the authors identified barriers to student engagement in the ODL through the lens of TTD. The identified barriers to student engagement are presented according to three transactional variables of the TTD and later classified concerning student engagement dimensions. Findings suggest that key instructional dialogue barriers emanate from the teacher and student personality. For program structure, the authors found the poorly designed courses while for learner autonomy there are situational, institutional, and dispositional barriers. The identified barriers to student engagement in ODL revealed the interrelatedness of the transactional variables and the strong link with the student engagement dimensions. By integrating the transactional variables of TTD and student engagement dimensions, this chapter identified possible strategies to address barriers to student engagement in the ODL.

Article
Publication date: 30 November 2023

Kamaludeen Samaila and Hosam Al-Samarraie

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…

Abstract

Purpose

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.

Design/methodology/approach

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.

Findings

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.

Practical implications

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).

Originality/value

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.

Details

Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2050-7003

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Book part
Publication date: 17 March 2010

Jeff Lashbrook

Purpose – This study describes how college students understand and manifest their academic engagement, but also explores its variations and influences.Methodology – Data for this…

Abstract

Purpose – This study describes how college students understand and manifest their academic engagement, but also explores its variations and influences.

Methodology – Data for this study are drawn from semi-structured interviews with 135 undergraduate students in 2003. The interviews were conducted by other undergraduate students who were trained in an upper-level sociology research methods course.

Findings – Interviews reveal that college student engagement is a more multidimensional phenomenon than previous treatments indicate. Students used two main narratives to talk about their engagement. Many students' vocabularies exhibit a restricted engagement that goes no further than typical course requirements and is characterized by an instrumental orientation (e.g., grades). The other narrative is a more elaborate, authentic engagement characterized by a deeper motivation. They care and are enthusiastic about their academic experiences. Students' engagement is influenced by a number of factors: course- and instructor-related characteristics, additional role obligations, and other social psychological forces.

Limitations – This study was exploratory in nature and the sample, although larger than many qualitative studies, was not randomly selected. Using undergraduate students as interviewers also has its advantages and disadvantages.

Practical implications – Findings suggest that postsecondary researchers would do well to expand current quantitative measures of engagement. Also, we need a broader theoretical model for conceptualizing the multidimensional nature of student engagement and its influences.

Originality – This paper concludes by offering such a model by drawing upon recent advances in the sociology of culture.

Details

Children and Youth Speak for Themselves
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-735-6

Book part
Publication date: 6 February 2013

Antonella Esposito

This chapter stems from the need to focus on the inherent interplay of faculty and student engagement while studying the impact of social media in higher education teaching and…

Abstract

This chapter stems from the need to focus on the inherent interplay of faculty and student engagement while studying the impact of social media in higher education teaching and learning. The discussion is specifically concerned with the role and affordances of microblogging in the rethinking of the teacher/student relationship and in blurring the boundaries of academic contexts. The chapter examines an early experimentation of Twitter use to foster and monitor participation by the master students enrolled in a Human Resources Management class in an Italian university. The pilot is discussed referring to lessons learned from a range of accounted empirical cases and relevant studies on microblogging for teaching and learning in academia. A special focus addresses both a revised notion of academic scholarship and engagement, prompted by emergent profiles of networked faculty, and debates about the multiple ways of conceptualizing student engagement in the current academic cultures and contexts, being challenged by an increasingly complex digital landscape and by a varied typology of learners coming to university. As conclusion, issues related to the range of alignments to be taken into account when adopting social networking services in a higher education context are suggested as cues for an ongoing discussion.

Details

Increasing Student Engagement and Retention Using Classroom Technologies: Classroom Response Systems and Mediated Discourse Technologies
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78190-512-8

Book part
Publication date: 17 September 2018

Jill LeBihan, Christina Hughes and Carol A. Taylor

This chapter discusses the institutional contextual narratives provided as part of the evaluation of universities in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) in England. The…

Abstract

This chapter discusses the institutional contextual narratives provided as part of the evaluation of universities in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) in England. The purpose of the TEF is to allow differentiation between higher education institutions on the basis of teaching quality, but the equality challenge unit has expressed reservations about the TEF’s ability to make sense of, or reflect, diverse student experiences of being taught. The authors follow the methodology of critical policy ethnography using higher education and government policy documents as a field of anthropological data and contend that, in order to understand large-scale transformations, such as the educational experience of students, the authors have to examine the ‘policy field’ and then locate more precise sites, in this case the TEF, for understanding the larger environment. The authors have systematically determined our search terms and used text-mining tools to search all the institutional narratives and obtain a broad ‘policy field’; we then select some key examples to analyse particular cases in more detail. This provides us with evidence from the statements to determine both how the perspective of students has been included in preparing the TEF contextual narratives and how diversity is being addressed.

Details

Contexts for Diversity and Gender Identities in Higher Education: International Perspectives on Equity and Inclusion
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78756-056-7

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Article
Publication date: 27 October 2023

Hussein-Elhakim Al Issa, Mohammed Mispah Said Omar and Ayşem Çelebi

The purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of perceived value and academic entitlement on the online engagement of university students. The mediating effect of…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of perceived value and academic entitlement on the online engagement of university students. The mediating effect of technostress inhibitor and teacher behavior between perceived value, entitlement and student engagement was also examined.

Design/methodology/approach

The study used a quantitative research methodology, with data collected through a survey of 304 undergraduate students from a public university in Bahrain.

Findings

The findings showed that perceived value and academic entitlement were significant predictors of online student engagement. At the same time, only technostress inhibitor was found to mediate those associations. An unexpected result was entitlement's positive and significant impact on student engagement.

Practical implications

University decision-makers are strongly advised to enhance perceived value and support mechanisms for engagement, address technology-related concerns and improve teacher capacity and students' online learning experience.

Originality/value

The study makes a distinct contribution by investigating how perceived value, academic entitlement, technostress inhibitors and teacher behavior influence student engagement in the online higher education context.

Details

Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-3896

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 22 December 2016

Richard L. Miller

This chapter aims to discuss methods for promoting student engagement to counteract declining academic motivation and achievement in the contemporary setting.

Abstract

Purpose

This chapter aims to discuss methods for promoting student engagement to counteract declining academic motivation and achievement in the contemporary setting.

Methodology/approach

In this chapter, two studies are presented that describe ways to promote student engagement in and out of the classroom. The in-class study was conducted with psychology students at the University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK). The Student Course Engagement Questionnaire (SCEQ) developed by Handelsman, Briggs, Sullivan, and Towler (2005) was used to measure student engagement. Study 2 examined the extent to which four high-impact educational practices promoted student engagement. Undergraduate UNK students who had participated in undergraduate research, learning communities, service learning, or internships were surveyed.

Findings

The results of the first study indicated that instructors can promote engagement by how the structure of the classroom (discussion classes), individuation (knowing student names and keeping class sizes small), and teacher support in the form of being responsive to student questions, encouraging students to seek assistance, and assigning effective aids to learning. The second study indicated that undergraduate research and internships were more engaging than service learning or learning communities.

Originality/value

These results suggest practical methods for meeting a variety of student needs, including their need for relatedness — by encouraging them to seek assistance and knowing their names, competence — by assigning effective learning aids and autonomy — by encouraging intrinsically motivating activities.

Details

Integrating Curricular and Co-Curricular Endeavors to Enhance Student Outcomes
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-063-3

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 May 2023

Giang Thi Thu Trinh

The topic of student engagement (SE) has received considerable attention in the literature for its robust correlation with many positive educational outcomes in higher education…

Abstract

Purpose

The topic of student engagement (SE) has received considerable attention in the literature for its robust correlation with many positive educational outcomes in higher education (HE). However, among these desirable outcomes, student competencies have rarely been examined despite their importance in employability. While universities are expected to improve graduates' competencies and prepare them to adapt in an uncertain and complex workplace, the results are still limited. Therefore, this study attempts to examine the impacts of SE on student competencies in HE in Vietnam, focusing on the out-of-class environment. It also aims at developing a measurement instrument for out-of-class SE.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on student self-reports, this study collected two different datasets of 492 and 490 undergraduate business students in Hanoi to implement separate exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The measurement instrument of out-of-class engagement was adapted from the literature review and developed based on qualitative research, which combined the four subconstructs of participatory, emotional, cognitive and agentic engagement.

Findings

Findings confirms four subconstructs of SE in the out-of-class context where agentic engagement is a valid and distinct aspect. Findings further show that, among these four subconstructs, cognitive and agentic engagement have significant impacts on all four important student competencies for business students, while participatory and emotional engagement do not.

Research limitations/implications

This study confirmed out-of-class SE has significant positive impacts on student competencies in HE, especially with out-of-class cognitive and agentic engagement. The findings show evidence of different impacts between participatory and agentic engagement, in which while participatory has no impacts on student competencies, agentic engagement significantly contributes to competencies of managing self, communicating and managing people and tasks. This implies different outcomes can be expected from different levels of engagement.

Practical implications

From a managerial point of view, the findings of this study strongly suggest that higher education institutions (HEIs) should view the out-of-class environment as an important extended learning context for students' complete development. Besides, as student out-of-class participatory engagement is not sufficient to the formation of student competencies, HEIs should strengthen out-of-class cognitive and agentic engagement among students. From the leadership perspective, building a good campus environment with various opportunities to involve students in diversified extra-curricular activities is beneficial to university students.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the body of knowledge in SE by establishing a theoretical linkage between out-of-class engagement and student competencies and provides sufficient statistical significance. In addition, it validated out-of-class agentic engagement as a separate and distinct subcomponent of out-of-class SE and confirmed the positive impact of out-of-class engagement on student competencies for business students.

Details

Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, vol. 16 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2050-7003

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 May 2023

Esra Aldhaen

The purpose of this study is to investigate how the digital competence of academicians influences studentsengagement in learning activities in the face of the pandemic outbreak…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate how the digital competence of academicians influences studentsengagement in learning activities in the face of the pandemic outbreak. In addition to this, the paper investigates how digital competence influences each dimension of student engagement (cognitive, affective and behavioural).

Design/methodology/approach

A cross-sectional, quantitative and explanatory research design was used to conduct the study. Data were gathered with an adopted questionnaire administered to a randomly selected sample of 500 university faculty members who were not digitally literate prior to the outbreak of the pandemic. Apart from the goodness of data tests, inferential statistics were applied to test hypotheses.

Findings

Results indicate a significant influence of teachers’ digital competence on student engagement and the pandemic outbreak positively moderates the relationship. Digital competence equally influences all three dimensions of student engagement.

Practical implications

The outbreak of COVID-19 made the adoption of digital life more compulsive and the nations with already available digital infrastructure and digital competence effectively minimized the adverse effect of social distancing as a result of the pandemic outbreak. Findings emphasize practitioners to focus on the digital capacity building of academicians and the provision of digital infrastructure to facilitate student engagement.

Social implications

Society is transforming into a hi-tech lifestyle and technological advancement is penetrating almost every sphere of life at an unprecedented pace. From the digitalization of day-to-day affairs to e-governance, the adoption of technology is becoming a new normal. The outbreak of the pandemic overtook academic institutions equally. So, the social distancing compelled academicians and other stakeholders of universities to switchover from in-campus classes to online classes. The findings enrich the existing body of literature by explaining how digital competence has a determining role in ensuring student engagement amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

Originality/value

This research is a seminal work, as it tests the influence of digital competence on student engagement with the moderating role of the pandemic outbreak. To the best of the author’s knowledge, existing literature does not present this kind of research.

Details

Competitiveness Review: An International Business Journal , vol. 34 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1059-5422

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 45000