In Their Own Words: Student Engagement as Defined by Online Learners

Abstract

Student engagement is linked to various measures of academic achievement, including retention, student satisfaction, and institutional success. Further research to determine student engagement as it relates to online students is now more necessary as online enrollments continue to increase. To understand how student engagement applies in online education, it is important to gain additional insight as to how online students define student engagement. In this qualitative case study, online learners were interviewed to gain their perceptions of engagement in an online course required for certain majors at a large public institution. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, their perceptions were used to determine how this specific group define student engagement. The study also revealed various types of activities that were perceived to be most engaging to students enrolled in the course. The results of this study provide administrators and faculty the ability to better understand student perceptions so that they can be considered when developing resources to enhance instructional design and communication with online learners