Student engagement is widely recognised as an important influence on achievement and learning in higher education and as such is being widely theorised and researched. This article firstly reviews and critiques the four dominant research perspectives on student engagement: the behavioural perspective, which foregrounds student behaviour and institutional practice; the psychological perspective, which clearly defines engagement as an individual psycho-social process; the socio-cultural perspective, which highlights the critical role of the socio-political context; and, finally, the holistic perspective, which takes a broader view of engagement. Key problems are identified, in particular poor definitions and a lack of distinction between the state of engagement, factors that influence student engagement, and the immediate and longer term consequences of engagement. The second part of the article presents a conceptual framework that overcomes these problems, incorporating valuable elements from each of the p...

Framing student engagement in higher education

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Applied Nonparametric Statistics

The aim of the paper is to integrate notions of the improvement of student learning through a focus on the concept of engagement, and adds to that broader discussion through a recent empirical study of the perceptions of students gathered through a case study in a UK university. It is proposed that student engagement lies on a continuum from disengaged to engaged, and also exists at a number of levels within which the same student may exhibit different degrees of engagement. We argue that if the built‐in alienating influences within higher education are to be countered, multi‐faceted engagement is required. Learners, we conclude, are more likely to engage if they in turn are supported by teaching staff who engage with: students, with the subject, and with the teaching process, and furthermore that the classroom teacher requires support in achieving this.

The role of engagement in inspiring teaching and learning

Why EAP is necessary: A survey of Hong Kong tertiary students

The authors argue for the inclusion of students’ subjective sense of belonging in an integrated model of student persistence (Cabrera et al., J Higher Educ 64:123–139, 1993). The effects of sense of belonging and a simple intervention designed to increase sense of belonging are tested in the context of this model. The intervention increased sense of belonging for white students, but not for African American students. However, sense of belonging had direct effects on institutional commitment and indirect effects on intentions to persist and actual persistence behavior for both white and African American students.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/info/40542320

Sense of Belonging and Persistence in White and African American First-Year Students

This study investigated the sense of belonging of part-time students through interviews with 53 novice or experienced students enrolled in part-time programmes in Hong Kong. It was found that students were more easily able to affiliate with their class groups or teaching staff than with their department or university. Seven methods are suggested for promoting a sense of belonging. Class cohesiveness can be developed through learning activities and maintaining classes as a cohort. Relationships with teaching staff can be developed through encouraging interaction, providing good quality teaching and making a positive initial impression. There was also evidence that a sense of belonging was more likely to develop if enrolment was through departments and part-time students had access to resources and facilities. The data showed that promoting a sense of belonging contributed to better quality learning outcomes and increased the chances of students completing programmes.

Cultivating a sense of belonging in part-time students

Medium of instruction in Hong Kong universities : the mis-match between espoused theory and theory in use

This article develops a classification system for the orientations to enrolment of part-time students based upon their practical lifelong learning needs. Orientation to enrolment is seen as a complex construct embodying all the reasons, purposes, expectations and motivations that cause students to pick a particular course and elect to study by the part-time mode. Virtually all of the interviewed students had a vocational orientation so some previously used categorisation schemes were not suitable. Instead seven categories relating to lifelong learning needs provided a scheme which covered the cases and related well to explanations given by interviewees for enrolling in the courses. These were re-training or further development for those who need to make a career shift; education for professionals who need to undertake continuing professional development through their careers; an opportunity for a tertiary education for those who did not previously have the chance; an education at the tertiary level for th...

Orientations to Enrolment of Part-time Students: A classification system based upon students' perceived lifelong learning needs

This study examined the ways in which new students attempt to adjust to part‐time study. Data were gathered through interviews with 53 students enrolled in part‐time courses in Hong Kong. It was found that the data could be interpreted in terms of the construct of self‐direction. The novice students showed a surprising degree of determination towards personal autonomy. When it came to self‐management in learning, those least equipped for self‐management were the ones tending to show the greatest difficulties in part‐time study. Some students were able to find help from teaching staff, fellow students or friends in developing self‐direction. It would appear, though, that universities could do more to help students develop self‐managed learning capabilities, and if they did so would ease the transition towards becoming a successful part‐time student.

Natalia Li

Papers

Cultivating a sense of belonging in part-time students

Medium of instruction in Hong Kong universities : the mis-match between espoused theory and theory in use

Orientations to Enrolment of Part-time Students: A classification system based upon students' perceived lifelong learning needs

Towards Self-Direction in Study Methods: The Ways in which New Students Learn To Study Part-Time