Factors influencing undergraduate students’ engagement in online learning: a PLS-SEM approach

ABSTRACT

Effective engagement during online learning is essential for achieving successful student outcomes. This study aims to determine the level of engagement among undergraduate students and its influencing factors during the online learning process. Data were collected from a sample of 609 undergraduate students, taken from four public and private universities in Malaysia. Results showed that undergradaute students have a moderate level of engagement during online learning. Their engagement was significantly influenced by perceptions of online learning, experiences in online learning, and online self-regulation skills, as demonstrated by the results of partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). These factors accounted for 63.7% of the variance in students’ engagement (R² = .637, p < 0.01). The implications of the study were discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Online learning
• learning engagement
• perceptions
• experiences
• online self-regulation skills

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a Matching Grant Project between Universiti Sains Malaysia [304/PGURU/6501229/S162], Wawasan Open University [WOU/CeRI/2021[0042], Sunway University [RCO-LOC-SSW-001-2022] and Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak [20226020-9375].