Online strategies instructors employ to support and enhance student engagement and learning in higher education
TL;DR
Which student engagement strategies are most enacted by online teachers, and how these engagement strategies function collectively in contemporary higher education practice are documented.
Abstract
Over the past decade, evidence indicates more higher education (HE) students attracted to studying online. Important publications on this topic illustrate teachers’ and instructors’ growing awareness of the key conditions, elements, and dimensions that increase the likelihood of online student engagement and its impact on student learning and success. However, while studies are starting to emerge that address the online engagement strategies instructors employ and the impact of these practices, there is still a paucity of research that explores the most popular practices employed to support student engagement in HE online learning environments. Drawing on international survey data (N = 115), this study reports on insights from online instructors and learning designers regarding their preferred online engagement practices. Insights from the study provide a practice-informed account of how engagement is operationalised in online learning environments at scale. Rather than evaluating the effectiveness of individual strategies, the study maps dominant patterns of use and identifies three overarching pedagogical approaches—collaborative, cognitive, and humanising practices—that instructors most frequently employed. Importantly, the findings demonstrate that engagement strategies are rarely implemented in isolation; instead, instructors design activities that simultaneously support multiple dimensions of engagement. This paper advances knowledge in online and blended learning by documenting which student engagement strategies are most enacted by online teachers, and how these engagement strategies function collectively in contemporary higher education practice.