Online student engagement: perceptions of the impact on student learning and effective practices.

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20197880

In the current environment focused on quality, documenting online program quality has become an imperative for higher education leaders. Student engagement is considered an essential element of effective academic programs, and numerous studies of face-to-face academic programs have documented a connection between student engagement and student learning. There have been few efforts to evidence the relationship between student engagement and student learning in online programs. This mixed methods sequential explanatory study examined the relationship among student perceptions of their levels of engagement in online courses, demographic characteristics, and perceptions of their learning. Participants were online students enrolled in online degrees at a large private institution in the Northeast. The study's quantitative phase employed a survey based on items from the National Survey of Student Engagement. Correlation analyses showed statistically significant correlations (at p < .05) between each of four NSSE-define benchmarks of engagement and three NSSE-defined dimensions of learning; however, t-tests and ANOVA showed few significant differences in perceptions between the subgroups within the demographic categories. The qualitative phase involved semi-structured interviews with 10 volunteers from among the survey participants. Five broad themes involving factors and practices that students believe increase their engagement and learning were identified through thematic analysis of the interviews. These themes include faculty relationships with students, student to student connections, course design and functionality, student behavior and characteristics, and academic challenge. These qualitative themes converged significantly with, and therefore reinforce, the four benchmarks of engagement identified in the quantitative phase of the study.