Student Engagement in Online Learning: What Works and Why

Abstract

Overview WITH PRESSURES TO INCREASE ACCESS to higher education, colleges and universities have focused on increasing the number of online courses and programs offered. Higher education is also being criticized for its retention and graduation rates, and pressure is building to find solutions. To ensure that online learning can help address these problems, professionals dedicated to online learning are under pressure to explore and evaluate strategies for getting students engaged in their online studies. These pressures are the genesis and reason for this monograph. By applying the theories and techniques for student engagement in online learning, instructors and designers of online courses can improve and increase student engagement and help higher education produce graduates who can contribute to their families, communities, and the economy. The theories and research reviewed in this monograph provide important clues as to how to help students learn, stay enrolled, and finish a degree. Engagement techniques may be one key to making online learning productive for the institution but, more importantly, ensuring that students are successful as they pursue a college degree. In fact, achieving student engagement in online courses may be more important than it is in on-campus courses because online students have fewer ways to be engaged with the institution and perhaps greater demands on their time and attention as well. In other