Section
Educational technology
Abstract
The rapid transition to emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic posed challenges for teachers, students, and higher education institutions, impacting students' learning and engagement in the learning process. Based on Self-Determination Theory, this paper employs a collective case study research methodology to examine teachers' strategies for supporting students' learning and engagement in virtual learning environments during emergency remote teaching in the pandemic era, with the goal of offering guidelines to assist teachers in fostering student learning and engagement in these virtual settings. The inductive thematic analysis of eight semi-structured interviews with teachers from Spain, Oman, Nigeria and Cambodia revealed some challenges faced by teachers in engaging their students in virtual environments and some teaching and support strategies that teachers adopted to enhance students’ engagement in virtual classrooms. The study synthesised a set of strategies for teachers in higher education to support students’ engagement and learning in online environments. Teachers’ autonomy, structure and involvement support strategies had a behavioural, emotional, cognitive, and agentic engagement on students’ learning process. The paper discussed limitations and future research endeavours in online teaching and learning and students’ engagement.
Practitioner Notes
- Shifting to emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic influenced students’ learning and well-being, and engagement in the learning process
- This paper reports an investigation of teachers’ strategies to support students’ learning, engagement and well-being in virtual learning environments during emergency remote teaching in the pandemic era
- The aim of this paper is to develop a set of guidelines to help teachers in higher education support students in virtual and distance learning environments.
- The inductive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with teachers from Spain, Oman, Nigeria and Cambodia revealed some challenges faced by teachers in engaging their students in virtual environments.
- Teachers’ autonomy, structure and involvement support strategies had a behavioral, emotional, cognitive and agentic engagement on students’ learning process.
Recommended Citation
Al-Naabi, I., Cifuentes-Faura, J., To, L., & Obor, D. (2023). Exploring Cross-Cultural Teacher Perspectives on Student Engagement in Virtual Learning Environments During The COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 20(7). https://doi.org/10.53761/1.20.7.06
Agreements
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