Online Learning with a High Impact on Student Engagement

Peter Kahn, Lucy Everington, Ian Reid and Francine Watkins, University of

LiverpoolKathleen Kelm, Laureate Online

Education

Presented at Edulearn13, Barcelona, July 2013

Introduction

• A mixed picture around student engagement in learning that is fully supported online:– It has been clearly established that learning technology

can usefully support student engagement.– Specific uses of learning technology identified as having

a ‘high impact’ on student engagement. – Low levels of student retention for many fully-online

courses.– Underlying basis for understanding student engagement

remains limited; many studies based on establishing connections through surveys.

The study

• Multiple case study on student engagement for fully-online masters degrees in Public Health, Management and Computer Science: – Framed around realist social theory, drawing out the role of

reflexivity in framing intentional forms of human action.– Stage 1: analysis of postings to (asynchronous) discussion boards

for 22 learners.– Stage 2: semi-structured interviews with a sub-group of 8 students. – Experiences considered for each student primarily in relation to two

contrasting module designs. – Data analysis using the qualitative software, with

deductive/inductive approaches to category identification.

Theoretical findings (1)

• Given learning environments triggered rich expressions of reflexivity as students took responsibility in the face of uncertainty– High impact practices expect courses of action

grounded in different modes of reflexivity– Particular variation seen in the co-reflexivity

needed to progress mutual actions

Theoretical findings (2)

• Engagement also shaped in by task-related practices, social practices, beliefs and dispositions.

• Learning emerges as inherently challenging: – scope for dissonance between the modes of

reflexivity, practices and dispositions expected by a learning environment and the profile of the student.

Implications for practice (1)

• Analysis of the profile of reflexivity, dispositions, task-related and social practices required by proposed learning designs

• Students taking responsibility – Personal development to support greater capacity

for reflexivity– Students’ awareness of their own profiles of

reflexivity and dispositions

Implications for practice (2)

• Support students in exercising the reflexivity needed to develop task-related and communicative practices, especially with those who unfamiliar with key required modes of reflexivity. – Taking advantage of technology to introduce further

partners into a dialogue or to present further perspectives; thus helping to stimulate further reflexivity

– Role of facilitation in enabling students to progress joint concerns.

Generating mutual understanding Communicative practice

Selected quotation

Invitation “I think at the beginning I wasn’t asking that many questions, either. I had my answer and I wasn’t asking a question to get a follow up on my answer again.”

Provocation “I guess the first thing that I do is challenge someone else’s idea ... but the end product can often lead to the exact opposite where it can change in my mind.”

Identifying a common interest

“I try to bring my own experiences, as there will be some variations on this as people are in different countries and will have had different experiences.”

Reaching out “I just look at students who are less engaging in the class showing that I can also appreciate their posts. This is how I engage with the classroom.”

Defending “On some occasions I felt like I had to defend my previous answer but I’d hoped that I had done that by providing extra evidence rather than being argumentative.”

Encouragement “When people like what you write then they watch out for the next posting, and that works for me, because I get compliments and then want to do more research.”

Concluding observations

• Learning in this study emerges as inherently challenging to the student:– taking responsibility in the face of uncertainty.

• Consider the match between the learning environment and the profiles of the students involved:– reflexivity, practices, and dispositions.

Related reading

• Kahn P E (2013) ‘Theorising student engagement in higher education’, British Educational Research Journal, (available online 7th October 2013 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/berj.3121/full)