Mobile technology and online engagement have rapidly increased in access and use and have become embedded aspects of students' daily lives (personal, social, and academic) due to ubiquity and capability for personalized online interactions; and may have a positive or negative effect on students' use across formal and informal learning environments and students' overall academic success. The purpose of this study was to examine and explore the frequency of students' use of mobile technology for academic and non-academic purposes as well as frequency of students' online engagement in non-academic activities across formal and informal learning environments (e.g. while in class, while studying, and during personal leisure time) and their overall relationship to students' self-regulation & metacognitive tendencies and academic achievement/success. In addressing this purpose five groups of research question were developed. To inform my investigation of post-secondary students' mobile technology use, I developed a conceptual framework that connects three fields of study: (a) Educational technology, (b) Educational psychology, and (c) Student engagement in higher education. The conceptual framework was informed by Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory and triadic reciprocal causality model which was developed focusing on personal, behavioral, and environmental factors that constantly interact and influence one another. This study is among the first to explore connections between these various areas and factors in regards to students' mobile technology use and online engagement across formal and informal learning environments. Participants consisted of 604 students from a large Midwestern university. I developed the Student Mobile Technology Experience (SMTE) Survey. Survey data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, one-, two-, and three-way ANOVAs, and various factorial repeated measures ANOVAs (p < 0.05). Significant correlation (open full item for complete abstract)

Online learning in the higher education sector has grown exponentially over the past 15 years. Whereas online learning was once a viable alternative for the nontraditional adult student, enrollment trends now show an influx in traditional students opting for virtual education opportunities especially in the last three years during the COVID-19 pandemic. While there has been exponential growth in online learning, the rates of attrition have also significantly increased, making it difficult for institutions to retain their online students. This qualitative narrative inquiry study will explore the impact of authentic relationships on student success, engagement, and overall persistence in online learning environments. The research used in this review is timely and relevant for the current student climate that continues to reflect increases in online learning as well as enrollment of both traditional and nontraditional students who have conflicting priorities (work, personal life, and scholarly pursuits). Data compiled here will seek to provide details that support a teacher culture while considering authentic engagement, collective ownership, communication, and human centeredness as avenues for increased student success. It will explore internal and external factors contributing to and/or hindering student success and seek to identify effective and innovative student service practices that foster increased engagement and retention in online student learning environments. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Within secondary education, there has been an increase in online enrollment of students who are at risk of dropping out of high school and being economically disadvantaged. This qualitative study analyzed ten participants' interviews based on what motivates them in the educational setting. Within the findings, themes of engagement in the classroom, a need for purpose within the educational process, and togetherness of being a part of the online community of their educational program set the educational plan for this educational institution. Proposed actions of this dissertation recommend a refocus on the Three E's of the educational setting (Engage, Educate, and Enrich) with the inclusion of the whole student approach and approaches based around Velez-Ibanez and Greenberg's Funds of Knowledge of understanding and engaging the student.

This exploratory sequential study of the sense of community and support experienced by women in the Organizational Leadership Doctor of Education (OLDE) online program at Home University, drew upon Kahu's (2013) holistic conceptual model of student engagement which emphasized a need for research that focuses on the student experience at individual institutions. Data was triangulated through an initial survey, followed by focus groups and one on one interviews regarding the lived experiences of women in the OLDE online program. Four priorities for the program emerged through the findings: collect data regarding sense of community and support networks, develop a formal mentoring program, develop a doctoral program advisory board, and develop a dissertation chair matching process.

School-based agriculture education teachers (SBAE) are tasked daily with a multitude of demands inside and outside of the classroom. While these demands can be daunting, teachers continue to focus on how they can improve their practice through relevant and authentic professional development. The study's purpose was to describe the relationship between SBAE teacher social media use for professional purposes and self-confidence. A random sample of SBAE teachers responded to the survey instrument. Findings showed SBAE teachers are generally self-confident in the classroom and agriculture content. SBAE teachers are also using social media channels for professional purposes. Overall, there was not a statistically significant relationship between the self-confidence of SBAE teachers and their social media use for professional purposes. Future research should explore the self-confidence of SBAE teachers by experience, age, and certification.

In online programs, effective faculty-student interactions enhance achievement (Garrison and Arbaugh, 2007). This study examined how various communication techniques affected students' and faculty members' understanding of expectations, sense of connection, and ability to succeed in an online doctoral program. Grounded in the Core Principles of Improvement (Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate), this study examined viewpoints through a phenomenological, participatory action research approach. The findings revealed a persistent sense of uncertainty that impeded the success for many, but some used the shared uncertainty to forge small, strongly bonded relationships. Both students and faculty expressed a need for additional engagement and more timely and constructive input. They desired open forums, pre- and post-class mingling, monthly updates, and other interactive opportunities.

Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, digital technology has become an indispensable tool to realize distance learning and online activities in schools throughout the United States. As a result, online learning has become an important topic for researchers in the field of education. The present is situated within the growing bodies of research that investigate how confident students feel as they use technology, how they perceive their own roles in an online community, and how both impact their participation and engagement in online education. Eighty-seven students from two school districts participated in a three-unit social studies curriculum during the 2020-2021 academic year. Results indicated that students' perceptions of digital citizenship moderate the relationship between their technology efficacy and synchronous online engagement. Students with a medium level of digital citizenship tended to be more engaged in synchronous online activities as they are more confident in using technological skills in their online learning. This research finding suggested the importance of teaching students about digital citizenship at an early age and helping students with technology use, especially for those from less wealthy districts in order to improve the learning quality and students' academic performances in online learning environment.

Background The purpose of this two-part descriptive study was to evaluate an online training course designed to introduce direct care workers to the Tovertafel, a multi-sensory technology device, and provide information about how to facilitate interactive game sessions with older adults who have dementia. While direct care staff are often an integral part of multi-sensory interventions, a review of previous studies indicates that staff training is often under-reported in the literature. Ensuring that direct care workers are comfortable with new practices or technology is crucial to their success, as they are usually the staff who implement new programs. Research suggests that staff members who have been trained using consistent methods are more likely to understand the intended activities and results, which increases the success of the program. Methods In Part One of the study an interactive online training course was created using constructs of the New World Kirkpatrick Model (NWKM). A convenience sampling of undergraduate students enrolled in academic programs offered by the College of Health and Human Services at a midwestern university were invited to participate in the training and complete an online survey. Additionally, students enrolled in three recreation therapy courses at the same university were assigned to complete the activities. Following course completion, an online survey obtained ratings of engagement (i.e., aesthetics, ease of use, novelty, and involvement), relevance, and knowledge/skills gained from the training. In Part Two of the study, undergraduate recreation therapy students were invited to practice using the Tovertafel games and provide input on their experiences. A survey was created using constructs of Social Cognitive Theory to measure perceptions of behavioral capability, self-efficacy, expected outcomes and reinforcing attitudes. Results In Part One, 72 undergraduate students participated in the online training course and subseque (open full item for complete abstract)

Asynchronous online discussions (AOD) can be designed to promote knowledge construction among learners and encourage active use of thought (Luhrs & McAnally-Salas, 2016). Unfortunately, little is known about the theoretical underpinnings of specific design factors: social connection and positive academic outcomes have been demonstrated for individual factors including project-based learning (Koh, Herring, & Hew, 2010), scaffolded learning (Liu & Yang, 2014), facilitation of discussion (Evans, Ward, & Reeves, 2017), and critical thinking (Topcu, 2010). Given these shortcomings, understanding of effective AOD designs driven by theory could promote greater professional development opportunities for future online educators and increase effectiveness of AOD for student learning outcomes. The purpose of this study was to investigate student perceptions of community in a four-factor AOD design, and to understand the dynamic relationships between discussion quality, community, participation, and motivation. The community of inquiry ([CoI] Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000) framework provides the foundation for understanding online community as it promotes co-constructed knowledge. CoI recognizes three factors that contribute to meaningful educational experiences and knowledge construction (social presence, teaching presence, and cognitive presence). The self-determination theory ([SDT] Ryan & Deci, 2000a) and engagement theory (Kearsley & Schneiderman, 1998) provide the groundwork for motivation as online students must be properly incentivized and authentically engaged for optimal success. SDT recognizes the importance of intrinsic motivation in achievement and the interaction of three basic human needs that drive behavior (autonomy, competence, and relatedness). Engagement refers to activity that supports intrinsic motivation and promotes higher cognitive skills. Kearsley and Schneiderman (1998) applied engagement to professional practice where work with an authentic fo (open full item for complete abstract)

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the instructors' perceptions and experiences of increasing and sustaining student engagement in eCampus. Online courses and programs have become a growing phenomenon in many postsecondary institutions. Online learning could be beneficial to accommodate the needs of students with diverse learning preferences and styles. However, research findings showed that the attrition rate of online courses was often 10% to 20% higher than that of traditional face-to-face classes. The high attrition rate could be problematic to prevent students from successfully completing their online courses or earning their online degrees. Engagement is a significant factor to influence the quality of students' online learning experiences. Many studies have been done to explore online engagement from learners and instructors' perspectives. For example, online learning strategies were helpful to enhance students' online learning experiences. Other researchers have suggested the importance of online teaching strategies to promote student engagement, including interactive learning experiences, instructor social presence, immediate feedback, well-designed assessment activities, and learners' anxiety control. However, limited research has been conducted to investigate instructors' perceptions and experiences of enhancing student engagement in online environments. Guided by two engagement frameworks, I recruited 12 online instructors from the eCampus at the target institution. Individual interviews and document analysis were applied to collect data. Two cycles of coding, open and pattern coding, were used to generate the themes to address two research questions. According to the findings, online instructors believed that a heavy workload was needed to promote online engagement in course design and deliver phases. They perceived online engagement as a complicated concept and three levels of interaction. Instructors also explained differ (open full item for complete abstract)

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of self-regulated learning (SRL) on students' cognitive engagement in an online mastery-based course using both techniques—learning analytics and self-report surveys. The research questions for this study are as follows: 1) How many types of online SRL behavior can occur in a mastery-based online course? 2) How are the two instruments (traces and self-report survey) used to assess SRL associated with each other? 3) How do these two instruments predict two levels of students' cognitive engagement—deep and shallow strategy use? The analyses in this study use secondary datasets, including self-report survey responses and learning management system (LMS) logs of 110 students from eight class sections of a seven-week online mastery-based course on skills for self-regulating and succeeding in online courses at Ohio State University in autumn 2016 and autumn 2017. All participants completed consent forms and demographic surveys in the first week, and then completed self-regulation and deep and shallow strategy-use surveys in the seventh week. Their logs with timestamps from the first week to the seventh week were recorded by trackers developed for the university LMS. The total number of traces (coded LMS logs) was calculated based on the frequency (count) and time (duration) of the LMS logs. Since there were two versions (count and duration) of the trace data calculated from the cleaned LMS logs, the three research questions were answered based on the two versions of the trace data. After trace data were analyzed using Zimmerman's SRL theoretical framework, four types of online SRL behavior emerged: 1) goal-setting, 2) help-seeking, 3) reading for comprehension, and 4) self-evaluation (DiBenedetto & Zimmerman, 2010; Zimmerman, 1989, 1990, 1998, 2000; Zimmerman & Martinez-Pons, 1988). The descriptive statistical results for the first research question demonstrate that, among the four types of SRL behavior, goal-set (open full item for complete abstract)

Online education has grown tremendously in the past decade, though there has been little research completed on its efficacy at the elementary level. The educational focus of the primary level student is to learn how to read fluently, which requires a systematic phonics approach whether the student is in a traditional or online environment. This research paper will focus on the growth of online education at the primary level, the necessary reading interventions for reading fluency growth and the keys for a successful learning environment. In the online educational model, the engagement level of the parent, guardian, or adult significantly impacts the academic success of the primary age student, especially in the area of learning how to read on grade level. Keys to parent engagement include communication with the licensed classroom teacher, student participation in live online classroom experiences, and daily completion of curriculum and school attendance. All of these require the parent, adult, or guardian to be engaged in the online program along with the primary age student. Additionally, the research addresses whether a student who enrolls in an online school midyear typically scores below their online peers and continues to score below their online peers even after subsequent years enrolled in the online school.

This dissertation explores the roles played by media toward political engagement and disengagement among students at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), an affirmative action university in Malaysia, during 2010. In doing so, this study examined perceptions regarding Malaysian media and politics, and the roles played by both mainstream mass media and online media in fostering political engagement and disengagement among UiTM students. The ethnographic fieldwork for this study was conducted during 2010—a critical year in Malaysia's political history, which preceded the repeal of the country's controversial laws including the Internal Security Act University and the University Colleges Act (UUCA). Before its repeal in 2012, UUCA banned university students and academicians from joining political parties, which presented a key challenge in obtaining informant feedback during the fieldwork. The findings revealed a distrust of mainstream media among many of the informants, including the politically engaged and the disengaged, during 2010. The alternative media online had helped disseminate oppositional messages and had encouraged both engagement and disengagement. Moreover, social media, including Facebook and Twitter, had led to an unprecedented form of engagement between youth and political leaders and issues, which, in turn, had led to enhanced interactions—hereby increasing student involvement in the country's political discourse. While both government controlled media and alternative media online had resulted in multiple political discourses, the overall environment for youth political engagement and disengagement was shaped by multiple factors, including parental influence, peer influence, role models, and establishment, along with media. Moreover, issues such as continued corruption in the country had contributed further to a distrust of mainstream media and political leaders, and had, thereby, contributed to the growing political disengagement among many UiTM stud (open full item for complete abstract)

The current study examines Facebook users' motivations, activities, and outcomes for their participation/engagement on Facebook brand community pages with a mixed methods research design of in-depth interviews and a paper-based survey. As a result, this study found that users were not very much connected to the Facebook brand communities of which they were a part. Users tended not to consider themselves as dedicated members and generally showed a passive interest in these brand pages. They also participated inactively and did not commit heavily to these pages. In contrast, most users recognized Facebook as a suitable (or enjoyable) space for communication and social interaction with friends, but did not perceive a brand as a real “friend” on Facebook. Thus, Facebook is not a hospitable place for maintaining online brand communities because Facebook brand pages manifest a weaker form of community compared to what traditional online brand communities embody. Nevertheless, some user engagement (or participation) still happens on Facebook brand pages. Users were found to perform four types of activities when participating: contributing to brand communities, endorsing brand communities, consuming brand posts, and consuming user posts. Additionally, users were effectively driven to participate by Socially-oriented Motivation, Brand-oriented Motivation, Self-oriented Motivation, Hedonic Motivation, Utilitarian Motivation, and Friends' Recommendation Motivation. Moreover, some significant linear relationships have been observed among users' participation motivations, activities, and outcomes, which provided a foundation for understanding their passive participation in Facebook brand communities and for optimizing Facebook marketing strategy in the future.

A quasi-experiment was carried out in a college success strategies course to evaluate the impact of structured interpersonal interaction on undergraduate students' Academic Engagement and Academic Achievement. The course, EPL 259: Individual Learning and Motivation, employs a blended learning instructional model – Active Discovery and Participation through Technology (ADAPT; Tuckman, 2002) – that requires students to spend the majority of class time working independently on online activities. In the quasi-experiment, students in six treatment sections were exposed to some combination of two types of interpersonal interaction: Student-Student Interaction and Student-Instructor Interaction. Student-Student Interaction was facilitated in two different formats: (1) through in-class, cooperative learning activities, and (2) through online, asynchronous discussion board activities. Two sections of EPL 259 received the first Student-Student Interaction format, two sections received the second format, and two sections received neither format. In addition, in each of these three pairs of sections, one section also received Student-Instructor Interaction, facilitated through weekly, one-on-one meetings between each student and his or her instructor. The desired outcomes, Academic Engagement and Academic Achievement, were each measured in two ways. Academic Engagement was measured: (1) through analysis of data on students' course-related behaviors, including rates of attendance, tardiness, submission of assignments, and late submission of papers, and (2) through students' scores on a multifactor survey of course engagement. Academic Achievement was measured: (1) through total points earned on written assignments and online activities, and (2) through grades on the comprehensive final examination. A series of Analyses of Covariance (ANCOVAs), utilizing participants' Prior Cumulative GPA and measures of Conscientiousness and Extraversion as covariates, was carried out to assess (open full item for complete abstract)

Many studies have been conducted where a face-to-face training environment is compared to an online training environment. While some research has been conducted on the nature of online training in faith-based not-for-profit organizations, little to no research has been found on engagement. The purpose of this study was to determine if the level of engagement of participants in a training course for new staff and interns with Campus Crusade for Christ would be increased by conducting training online instead of face-to-face and by utilizing multiple forms of media. The survey that was utilized included questions adapted from the Student Course Engagement Questionnaire (Handelsman et al., 2005) and was analyzed utilizing the Rasch measurement model to understand whether the survey successfully met the requirements for measuring engagement. The Rasch measurement analysis revealed that the survey was weak and did not measure engagement, thus the results of the survey revealed no significant differences in the level of engagement. Further research is recommended with new questions being added to the survey that are considered to have a greater level of difficulty as well as research should be conducted that involve qualitative data collection.