EXPLORING UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCES OF ONLINE LEARNING AND ENGAGEMENT

Abstract

Student engagement is an important aspect of learning that ensures that students relate to the learning environment. Since the COVID outbreak, many educational institutions have adopted remote learning because it has introduced accessibility, safety and convenience of learning. Despite its advantages, problems such as low student engagement or disengagement with e-learning format of studies remain persistent up to this day. This study explored student engagement within online education, focusing on undergraduate experiences and factors affecting the level of their engagement. The qualitative study employed a phenomenological design. A total of 12 participants, who were studying in an online format across different universities in Kazakhstan were recruited. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews. The interview findings revealed that student attitude referred to as emotional engagement consists of negative or positive experiences directly affecting the level of student engagement and motivation of the students. Additionally, the study revealed that varied types of meaningful interactions such as student-student and faculty-student play a significant role in student engagement and their ability to retain information for a longer period of time. The findings also indicated that despite online learning being considered primarily as a change of study mode it has a direct impact on the level of student engagement which in turn is affected by a number of factors related to the digital learning environment and personal perceptions of the learner. Aside from that, emerging from respondents’ perspectives, raising digital literacy among faculty members plays a crucial role in enhancing student engagement as well.