Student engagement and wellbeing over time at a higher education institution

Abstract

Student engagement is an important factor for learning outcomes in higher education. Engagement with learning at campus-based higher education institutions is difficult to quantify due to the variety of forms that engagement might take (e.g. lecture attendance, self-study, usage of online/digital systems). Meanwhile, there are increasing concerns about student wellbeing within higher education, but the relationship between engagement and wellbeing is not well understood. Here we analyse results from a longitudinal survey of undergraduate students at a campus-based university in the UK, aiming to understand how engagement and wellbeing vary dynamically during an academic term. The survey included multiple dimensions of student engagement and wellbeing, with a deliberate focus on self-report measures to capture students’ subjective experience. The results show a wide range of engagement with different systems and study activities, giving a broad view of student learning behaviour over time. Engagement and wellbeing vary during the term, with clear behavioural changes caused by assessments. Results indicate a positive interaction between engagement and happiness, with an unexpected negative relationship between engagement and academic outcomes. This study provides important insights into subjective aspects of the student experience and provides a contrast to the increasing focus on analysing educational processes using digital records.

Impact of Positive Personal Traits on University Student Engagement in Mexico, Colombia, and El Salvador

“…We hypothesized that all dimensions of student engagement correlate with the components of emotional intelligence (attention, clarification, and reparation) and orientation to happiness (pleasure, meaning, and engagement) (hypothesis 1, H1). We also expected that emotional intelligence and orientation to happiness would produce a direct and positive impact on university students' engagement (hypothesis 2, H2), in accordance with results from previous studies (Durón-Ramos and García-Vazquez, 2018; Boulton et al, 2019).…”

“…According to our results, the engagement presented by students in these three countries can be enhanced by emotional intelligence and orientation to happiness. Positive traits are related to students' performance (Merino-Tejedor et al, 2018;Boulton et al, 2019), which supports hypothesis 1. More importantly, our model supports the idea of a direct impact from emotional intelligence and orientation to happiness on students' engagement (hypothesis 2).…”

“…University students often spend time focusing on the external. These results point out the importance of focusing on students' positive personal traits (Aniae and Tonèiae, 2013;Boulton et al, 2019) to improve performance in school.…”

The Relationship of Affective, Behavioral and Cognitive Engagements in ESL Higher Learning Classroom

“…Another study conducted by Boulton, Hughes, Kent, Smith, and Williams (2019) highlighted the positive relationship between student engagement and their well-being on campus. It was discovered that students who were engaged via the feedback loop would improve in their academic performance, thus becoming happier.…”

Commentary: Learning Students' Given Names Benefits EMI Classes

“…Deci and Ryan ( 2000 , p. 229) postulated that self-determination theory (SDT) rests on self-socialization, and while it is counter-intuitive for instructors to guide student self-determination (ten Cate et al, 2011 , p. 961), initial engagement can be created and continued by simply learning and then using student names. Boulton et al ( 2019 , p. 2) posited that defining and then connecting engagement to success requires a “holistic view of student motivations and appropriate measures of outcomes.” As such, instructors should take the “indirect or enabling” perspective of positive psychology to determine the favorable conditions that enable students to be more optimistic and content with their learning environment and then help to make those conditions a reality (Csikszentmihalyi, 2009 , p. 204). The inclusive purpose of positive psychology as postulated by Seligman et al ( 2005 , p. 413) is being that of positive emotion, engagement, and meaning fitting well into a student success model of achieving educational goals.…”