We aim to identify the engagement strategies that higher education students, engaging in emergency online learning in low-resource settings, perceive to be effective. We conducted a sequential mixed-methods study based on Moore’s interaction framework for distance education. We administered a questionnaire to 313 students engaging in emergency online learning in low-resource settings to examine their perceptions of different engagement strategies. Our results showed that student–content engagement strategies, e.g., screen sharing, summaries, and class recordings, are perceived as the most effective, closely followed by student–teacher strategies, e.g., Q and A sessions and reminders. Student–student strategies, e.g., group chat and collaborative work, are perceived as the least effective. The perceived effectiveness of engagement strategies varies based on the students’ gender and technology access. To support instructors, instructional designers, and researchers, we propose a 10-level guide for engaging students during emergency online classes in low-resource settings.

Although flipped learning has been recognized as being a potential approach enabling students to learn at their own pace before the class and facilitating in‐depth peer‐to‐peer and student‐to‐teacher interactions in the class, it remains a challenge to promote students' active learning in the before‐class stage, which could significantly affect their in‐class engagement and learning performance. In this study, a reflective thinking‐promoting approach is proposed to facilitate students' learning design project performance, technology‐enhanced active engagement, and their reflective thinking and participation in the before‐class stage of flipped learning. A quasi‐experiment was conducted on a flipped Digital Learning course of a Master's program in a university to evaluate the effects of the approach on students' learning design performance, engagement, reflective thinking and participation. A total of 19 students (7 male and 12 female) were in the experimental group learning with the reflective thinking‐promoting approach, while 19 (4 male and 15 female) were in the control group learning with the conventional flipped learning approach. The results indicated that the proposed approach significantly enhanced not only the students' learning design project outcomes and reflective thinking, but also their engagement and participation in the before‐class stage of flipped learning. Practitioner NotesWhat is already known about this topic Flipping learning is an effective teaching approach that shifts the lecture time to the before‐class stage and hence teachers have more time to conduct learning activities to promote students' higher order thinking as well as to deal with individual students learning problems. Students' learning experience, motivation and belief could be the factors that guide students towards engagement and participation in content and help them learn new skills. Engaging students in reflective thinking is an important and challenging issue. It provides students with an opportunity to scrutinize their own learning and hence make progress. What this paper adds A reflective thinking‐promoting approach into flipped learning is proposed to facilitate students' flipped learning engagement and participation behaviors as well as their project performance and reflective thinking. In addition to promoting students' learning outcomes, the results indicated that the proposed approach provides promising results on the technology‐enhanced active learning experience and participation in online learning in the before‐class stage of flipped learning. Implications for practice and/or policy Via monitoring students' online before‐class progress, instructors can recognize the factors that affect students' learning, adjust or differentiate their instruction and even provide students with more opportunities or with additional support to meet students' needs for learning. The link between the video lectures and the classroom activities can be examined in future research to perceive the influence of video lectures on students' participation behaviors in‐class activities. Forming reflective thinking skill is important, but attainable; it needs students' engagement and participation in time and effort.

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The present study explored the impact of concept mapping‐based flipped learning as a listening‐speaking strategy on learning achievement, English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ critical thinking awareness and EFL speaking anxiety. The study utilized a pretest/posttest control and a quasi‐experimental design. Seventy‐two EFL learners were assigned to experimental (n = 37) and control (n = 35) groups. The results of the pretest indicated that the participants of the two groups were homogeneous concerning their proficiency level, critical thinking awareness and EFL speaking anxiety. The experimental group was instructed to construct concept maps after each listening task, and formulated their answers to the required speaking tasks from their concept maps. The results of the posttest indicated that concept mapping has a positive and significant influence on EFL learners’ English speaking performance and critical thinking awareness, and can decrease their speaking anxiety. Moreover, the relationships between concept mapping, learning performance, and critical thinking are statistically correlated. The results also revealed a significant negative relationship between speaking anxiety and the other variables. What is already known about this topic Students learn at their own pace and learn with repeated exposure to the same material to strengthen and deepen their understanding until they acquire the knowledge in flipped learning. The strategy of concept mapping is not only to support learners to organize concepts, but also to develop their ideas. Concept mapping can foster learners’ confidence and build up their background knowledge, so it will facilitate their speaking ability. What this paper adds A concept mapping‐based flipped learning as a listening‐speaking strategy is proposed to help improve students’ listening and speaking skills, EFL learners’ critical thinking awareness, and decrease speaking anxiety. In addition to supporting students’ foreign language learning, the results showed that the proposed approach provides positive results on the concept mapping‐based flipped learning for speaking training course. Implications for practice and/or policy The concept maps served as an approach to help students draw complex conceptual relationships and as an outcome measurement. The learners’ language performance and critical thinking are positively correlated. The learners’ concept mapping scores revealed not only in their performances, but also in speaking, conceptualization, and formulation.

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