Seeking pedagogical opportunities to engage university students in emergency online learning: The role of online course experiences

Abstract

Echoing the call for improving the definition and measurement of online student engagement, this study examined the association between students' engagement and their online course experiences in emergency online learning during COVID-19. A sample of 5672 undergraduate students from eight higher education institutions in China participated in the study. The results of structural equation modeling analysis showed that students' online course experiences were significantly related to their motivation and/or engagement in emergency online learning. Three types of pedagogical factors influencing student engagement were identified, namely, three “extensively adaptive factors,” two “partially adaptive factors,” and one “dual-effect factor.” These findings indicate the importance of teacher training for instructors to make better use of online learning, and reveal the pedagogical opportunities to improve student engagement in technology-mediated learning in the postpandemic era.