Research Programme

Student engagement and achievement in open online higher education

How can student engagement and student achievement in open online higher education be described, explained and improved? This is the central research question in the Centre of Education and Learning's research programme.

Open online learning in higher education has quickly gained popularity, expanded, and evolved. However, it is still unclear how higher education is harnessing this opportunity and engaging with open online learning and what effect, if any, open online learning will have on the Higher Education sector in the longer term.

Three perspectives are worked out in PhD-projects with student engagement and achievement in online higher education as the common dependent variables:

  • Project 1: characteristics of teaching

    The main research question of this project is “How is teaching in open online higher education related to students’ engagement and achievement?”​

    Tim van der Zee, CEL PhD Candidate, is working on this project. 
     
  • Project 2: characteristics of the learning environment design

    The main research question of this project is “How is the design of the learning environment related to students’ engagement and achievement in open online higher education?”

    Daniel Davis, CEL PhD Candidate, is working on this project. 
  • Project 3: characteristics of the student

    The main research question of this project is “How are students’ characteristics related to their engagement and achievement in open online higher education?

    Jacqueline Wong, CEL PhD Candidate, is working on this project.

Picture of Daniel Davis, Jacqueline Wong and Tim van der Zee

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