Galvanising Transition and Success for Underrepresented Students: Five Conditions for Enhancing Online Student Engagement
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Date
2024
Authors
Lawrence, J.
Brown, A.
Redmond, P.
Cohen, J.
Foote, S.
Stone, C.
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The International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education, 2024; 15(2):45-57
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Jill Lawrence, Alice Brown, Petrea Redmond, Jay Cohen, Stephanie Foote, Cathy Stone
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Abstract
The Australian Universities Accord’s (Department of Education, 2024) focus on expanding underrepresented groups’ access to higher education underscores an on-campus-online paradigm shift, or post-pandemic digital transformation, to address students’ flexibility and accessibility needs. The shift identifies that online student engagement, and students’ learning outcomes, need to be effective and fit for purpose if students are to succeed. Conducted as one phase of a longitudinal project (2017-present), this research investigated the approaches and strategies that could be incorporated to facilitate students’ online engagement. Findings suggest that these strategies could be encapsulated under five key conditions: fashioning a strong teacher presence; crafting an inclusive and safe online learning environment; creating well-structured and interesting content; forging explicit expectation management; and ensuring students have time to engage. This article argues that if educators are purposeful in applying these conditions, employing targeted, specific strategies in their curriculum design and teaching, students’ online engagement, and their learning outcomes, will be enhanced.
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© The Author/s 2024. Except where otherwise noted, content in this journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence. As an open access journal, articles are free to use with proper attribution.