Student engagement in online learning: understanding and defining the infusion of the social and academic shared experiences

Joseph J. Salomone

doi:10.17918/etd-4286

This study represented intent to understand and define the shared social and academic experiences that online Graduate students encounter as part of their online courses along with their associated personalization and interpretation of such experiences. It sought to understand a students individual perception of the concept of engagement in online learning and how they defined, participated and related to such experiences. Engagement experiences were easily identified and further defined when they involved, collaboration, communication, feedback, interaction and exposure to real world ideas and concepts. The experience was very personal to the student and required reflection to understand their role in that experience. They needed to be ready for the experience, as it required a degree of personal self-regulation to prepare for the engagement opportunity. When they were prepared for the experience they were far more likely to acknowledge the experience and successfully participate in the overall learning environment. The readiness that was required to be part of these experiences also helped them create knowledge from these interactions, forming a cognitive mosaic of rich stories that they could recount as if they had just happened hours ago. The conclusions were that students reflective interactive experiences and subsequent personalization of such experiences in their online courses were extremely critical in helping them define their overall engagement experience. The use of active collaborative learning within a meaningful construct created optimal engagement opportunities for students, which helped them stay connected, and ultimately engaged. In addition students enjoyed assignments and projects as part of the course, which were grounded in real world applications. These aspects of the course made collaboration a much more meaningful and realistic experience which allowed students the ability to uniquely define their own engagement experience. Students understood the idea that the concept of engagement or their respective levels of active participation in both the course and the program were extremely relative. By self-regulating these levels both personally and with respect to engagement as part of the course, it could then directly impact their success in not only the course but subsequently the program. Recommendations and implications for current practice included promoting the concept of mentorship by defining the role of the faculty member as a collaborative coach within online learning with the intent to creatively foster an ongoing mentorship environment between not only the faculty and their students but also amongst faculty members By also promoting the use of interactive course design, it would allow students the ability to collaborate, create, communicate, and reflect on their engagement experiences while relating to their classmates. In addition reviewing the course evaluation process by promoting ways to make it a more student centered experience, rather than faculty centered. With respect to course design, additional recommendations were made to explore the infusion of creativity through the use role-playing to create meaningful projects and assignments, which are grounded in real world theory and application. Finally as institutions continue to expand their online populations and understand the online learning model they need to establish a level of commitment to faculty. In doing so, this will help to provide ongoing faculty development, regarding new technologies with intent to promote opportunities for engagement in online learning using meaningful contextual constructs.

Student engagement in online learning: understanding and defining the infusion of the social and academic shared experiences

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Student engagement in online learning: understanding and defining the infusion of the social and academic shared experiences

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