Evaluating student engagement and deep learning in interactive online psychology learning activities

Abstract

There is growing demand for online learning activities that offer flexibility for students to study anywhere, anytime, as online students fit study around work and family commitments. We designed a series of online activities and evaluated how, where, and with what devices students used the activities, as well as their levels of engagement and deep learning with the activities. A mixed-methods design was used to explore students’ interactions with the online activities. This method integrated learning analytics data with responses from 63 survey, nine interview, and 16 focus group participants. We found that students used a combination of mobile devices to access the online learning activities across a variety of locations during opportunistic study sessions in order to fit study into their daily routines. The online activities were perceived positively, facilitating affective, cognitive, and behavioural engagement as well as stimulating deep learning. Activities that were authentic, promoted problem-solving, applied theory to real-life scenarios, and increased students’ feelings of being supported were perceived as most beneficial to learning. These findings have implications for the future design of online activities, where activities need to accommodate students’ need for flexibility as students’ study habits become more mobile.

Discussion forums: A misnomer? Examining lurkers, engagement and academic achievement

“…Traditionally, these lurkers were disregarded and considered unengaged as their presence and participation was invisible. This approach is inconsistent with engagement as a multidimensional construct (i.e., behavioural, affective and cognitive); students can engage on any level to effectively learn (Ben-Eliyahu et al, 2018;Sugden et al, 2021). Moreover, this approach fails to consider that forums are a virtual representation of a classroom.…”

“…This study was part of a larger project (see Sugden et al, 2021) with approval by the institutional ethics board. Data comprised LMS analytics, qualitative interviews and FGs.…”

“…Online teaching in higher education has increased in recent years (Douglas et al, 2020). Technological advancements such as web conferencing, interactive learning activities, reliable and accessible internet, and global pandemics have contributed to this exponential rise (Dumford & Miller, 2018;Sugden et al, 2021). Moreover, the flexibility and opportunity for social connectivity that online learning provides (Decker & Beltran, 2016) is attractive to students, especially those studying remotely or managing work or family commitments (Sugden et al, 2021).…”

“…Technological advancements such as web conferencing, interactive learning activities, reliable and accessible internet, and global pandemics have contributed to this exponential rise (Dumford & Miller, 2018;Sugden et al, 2021). Moreover, the flexibility and opportunity for social connectivity that online learning provides (Decker & Beltran, 2016) is attractive to students, especially those studying remotely or managing work or family commitments (Sugden et al, 2021). Discussion forums (we use this term to refer to any online platform used for asynchronous teaching and built into the learning management system [LMS]) are ubiquitous in online learning (Morris & Stommel, 2013) and often touted as maximising student learning and involvement (Alzahrani, 2017;Yee & Ean, 2020).…”

The relationship between teacher's gender and deep learning strategy: The mediating role of deep learning motivation

“…Deep learning emphasizes that learning motivation points to meaning comprehension (Marton & Säljö, 1976), active engagement in learning and high‐level participation in cognitive strategies (Biggs, 1987c). At present, most of the deep learning research in education focuses on the application of technology in learning, student learning, and teacher teaching (Jamil & Bhuiyan, 2021; Sølvik & Glenna, 2021; Sugden et al, 2021). However, the research on teacher's deep learning motivation and deep learning strategy needs further exploration.…”