Revealing Impact Factors on Student Engagement: Learning Analytics Adoption in Online and Blended Courses in Higher Education
Open accessAbstract
This study aimed to identify factors influencing student engagement in online and blended courses at one Australian regional university. It applied a data science approach to learning and teaching data gathered from the learning management system used at this university. Data were collected and analysed from 23 subjects, spanning over 5500 student enrolments and 406 lecturer and tutor roles, over a five-year period. Based on a theoretical framework adapted from Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework by Garrison et al. (2000), the data were segregated into three groups for analysis: Student Engagement, Course Content and Teacher Input. The data analysis revealed a positive correlation between Student Engagement and Teacher Input, and interestingly, a negative correlation between Student Engagement and Course Content when a certain threshold was exceeded. The findings of the study offer useful suggestions for future course design, and pedagogical approaches teachers can adopt to foster student engagement.
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- Authors
- Fan, S., Chen, L., Nair, M., Garg, S., Yeom, S., Kregor, G., Yang, Y., & Wang, Y.
- Affiliations
- University of Tasmania (AU)
- Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HK)
- Corresponding author
- Fan, Si
- Venue
- Education Sciences
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2021-10-02
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 608
- ISSN
- 2227-7102 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3202638380
- Cited by
- 41
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 2
- FWCI
- 5.50
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Education Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- UTAS Research Repository (acceptedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- PolyU Institutional Research Archive (Hong Kong Polytechnic University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- University of Tasmania (Research Enhancement Grant)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Science Applications › Online Learning and Analytics
- Social Sciences › Education › Online and Blended Learning
- Social Sciences › Education › Evaluation of Teaching Practices
- Keywords
- student engagement, online courses, blended learning, Community of Inquiry framework, teacher input, course content, learning management system data, course design, higher education
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