The COVID-19 pandemic has forced educational institutions to shift to the online learning environment, leaving no time to train teachers to make students familiar with digital technologies. Engaging students in virtual learning is the major challenge faced by teachers. This study aims to provide answers to various research questions like: 1) What is the current state of research on student engagement in online learning during pandemic? 2) What are the student engagement strategies underpinning in literature? 3) Which theories are used in literature? 4) What are the antecedents of student engagement in online learning underpinning in literature? 5) What are the gaps in existing literature and scope for future research? This study is based on 24 studies published during 2020-2022. To the best of authors' knowledge, this is the first attempt to offer a comprehensive research on student engagement in online learning during COVID-19 with a context of Asian countries.
TopIntroduction
The increasing adoption of smartphones, combined with the ease of access to high-speed network connectivity in Asian Countries, will boost the adoption of the e-learning market. This growth is accelerated further by COVID-19. This pandemic has compelled educational institutes to shift to online learning (Bansal et al, 2021). Figure 1 depicted the growth in online learning.
By analysing this graph it can be said that covid pandemic acts as a multiplier in the adoption of online learning. Enhancing student engagement is the major challenge that has to be faced in digital learning. Student engagement refers to the learners’ level of interest, attention, curiosity, and passion while learning. Student engagement (Bansal & Dadhich,2013) can be broadly classified under 3 categories:
When students show active participation in the learning process, this is referred to as behavioural engagement. They show behaviour like arriving on time, completing homework, and bringing all necessary materials to class, participating in class discussions, following their teacher’s instructions, and consistently putting up their best effort.
Cognitive Engagement occurs when students attempt to gain as much knowledge. They not only pay attention while teaching-learning process, but also put up thought-provoking questions.
Emotional Engagement is when students have a positive outlook on their educational experience.
Top(Salas-Pilco et al, 2022) examined student engagement from behavioural, cognitive and affective dimensions and identifies the main characteristics of student engagement from these tripartite dimensions. (Nkomo et al, 2021) examined student engagement through three digital technologies (LMS, Social Media, and Lecture Capture).
Table 1.
Related work and research gap
| Author(s) | Focused On | Country | Gap |
| Salas-Pilco et al, 2022 | Characteristics of student engagement from behavioural, cognitive and affective dimensions | Latin America | Not covered engagement Strategies, antecedents and theories
Not in context of Asian countries |
| Nkomo et al, 2021 | Student engagement with three digital technologies (LMS, Social Media, and Lecture Capture). | Not specified | Undertakes studies from 2010-2020 i.e. Pre pandemic era, Focused only on higher education institutes. |
| Present Work | Student Engagement Strategies in online learning during Covid | Asian Countries | |