Online Learner Engagement: Conceptual Definitions, Research Themes, and Supportive Practices

• In Event: Diverse Perspectives on Improving Online Learning Theory, Research, and Practice

Abstract

Purpose
Online learning has increased in prominence across all levels of education, but definitions of online learner engagement (OLE) have been contested in current scholarship. Building on previous efforts to define online learner engagement (Martin et al., 2017) and drawing from the broader learning literatures, this theoretical paper argues for a reconceptualization of online learner engagement.

Perspectives
Toward this reconceptualization, we review literature on cognitive, affective, and behavioral engagement, translating it to online contexts. Second, we synthesize five themes from online learning research and theory that have shaped understanding of learner engagement in online learning environments (Martin & Borup, in press).

Methods and Data Sources
Our theoretical article integrates scholarship from educational technology with scholarship from educational psychology and the learning sciences to consider both critical learner-centered dimensions of learner engagement and the affordances of the online learning environment that influence them. To arrive at this integration, we employed synthesis methods in reviewing, screening, and analyzing relevant conceptual and empirical literature from the last 25 years.

Results
We reconceptualize online learner engagement as the productive cognitive, affective, and behavioral energy that a learner exerts interacting with others and learning materials and/or through learning activities and experiences in online learning environments. Thus, we argue for a conceptual definition of OLE that includes three dimensions — cognitive, affective, and behavioral engagement — commonly identified in both the educational psychology and educational technology literatures. Furthermore, we argue that any examination that focuses solely on the individual’s mental energy, emotion, or behavior is limited because the dimensions can present themselves differently based on the affordances and constraints of the online learning environment. Five research themes and accompanying frameworks have each made contributions to understanding and facilitating learner engagement in the online learning environment (i.e., engagement through communication, interaction, presence, collaboration, and community). In some thematic areas, research has addressed specific dimensions of engagement that are facilitated by the affordance of the online environment (e.g., cognitive and behavioral engagement supported through bichronous communication; cognitive and behavioral engagement facilitated by cognitive and teaching presences). In other thematic areas (i.e., engagement through interaction, collaboration and community) research has focused on online learner engagement generally, without much attention to its dimensions.

To exemplify our reconceptualization of OLE in action, we introduce the ACE framework: a new perspective for online learning scholarship and practice that integrates the three learner-centered dimensions of engagement (i.e., cognitive, affective, behavioral) with consideration of the affordances of online contexts to provide guidance for how the online course community and personal community work together to support online learner engagement (Borup et al., 2020). Both course and personal communities are likely necessary for students to maintain the level of engagement needed for academic success in online learning.

Significance
The paper concludes with recommendations for research and practice, including operationalizing learner engagement in online learning research; designing measures of engagement quality and support; providing online instructors with professional development on OLE; and providing guidance for facilitators and parents to support K-12 online learners.

Authors

• Florence Martin, North Carolina State University
  Presenting Author

• Jered Borup, George Mason University
  Non-Presenting Author