J-LEE

J-LEE

Journal of Law, Economics, and English
http://ejournal.uhb.ac.id/index.php/J-LEE/issue/archive

THE IMPORTANCE OF BUILDING STUDENTS’
ENGAGEMENT DURING ONLINE LEARNING
Tri Pujiani
English Education Department of Social Science Faculty
Harapan Bangsa University
Email: tripujiani@uhb.ac.id

ABSTRACT
Students’ engagement can be defined as how much time, commitment, and effort is devoted
to the learning process. Students’ engagement is an important element in learning because
it is a factor that affects academic success. During the emergency online learning due to
covid-19 pandemic, some problems emerged because of the lack of learning engagement.
This descriptive study was aimed to find out the problems faced by the students and the
lecturers during the online learning as well as the tips to build learning engagement. The
study was carried out in July 2020 to the students and the lecturers of Harapan Bangsa
University. The data obtained from questionnaire and semi structured interview showed
that although the implementation of online learning has been good, there were still some
problems to be solved. Moreover, learning engagement was absolutely required during the
online learning. It is expected that the result of this study may be useful for lecturers in
designing the effective online learning and also for the students in understanding their role
during the learning process.
Keywords: students’ engagement, online learning, covid-19

INTRODUCTION
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, people
are now faced with a new era, namely the
New Normal. New Normal is a new
order, habit, and behavior based on
adaptation to cultivate a clean and
healthy life (Ministry of Health, 2020).
At this time, people have to get used to
new life patterns such as wearing masks,
hand washing habits, social distancing,
changing working hours, and online
learning.
The online learning system has
actually existed for a long time and has
been implemented by several institutions.
However, when face-to-face teaching
and learning activities are eliminated and
all educational institutions are required to

carry out online learning, it does not
mean that online learning can run
smoothly without any obstacles. The
students and the lecturers need to adapt to
this immediate switch. The students are
required to be autonomous learners. In
addition, the lecturers’ limitation in
mastering
Information
and
Communication Technology (ICT) is
also an obstacle because it makes the
teaching preparation process take longer.
However, online learning is not
merely about the use of ICT in learning,
but also about the interaction between
teachers and students in this learning
process in which involves ICT (Dixson,
2015). The engagement between
lecturers and students in online learning,
as well as other learning methods, is an
important element because it is an

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J-LEE: Journal of Law, Economics, and English, 2 (01), Desember 2020 Tri Pujiani. (The
Importance of Building Students’ Engagement During Online Learning)

indicator of a learning process and selfdevelopment (Toro-Troconis, Alexander,
&
Frutos-Perez,
2019).
Student
engagement can be defined as how much
time, commitment, and effort is devoted
to the learning process (Kahn,
Everington, Kelm, Reid, & Watkins,
2017; Ma, Han, Yang, & Cheng, 2015).
Engagement to learning includes three
elements,
namely
behavioral
engagement, emotional engagement, and
cognitive
engagement.
Behavioral
engagement includes students' active
participation in the learning process, such
as accessing material, doing assignments,
and so on. Emotional engagement is
defined as students' affective attitudes
towards lecturers, classmates, and the
class itself. Cognitive engagement is
about how students relate the knowledge
gained to prior understanding and how
students feel they need the material
(Buelow, Barry, & Rich, 2018; Pellas,
2014).
Student engagement is an important
element in learning because it is a factor
that affects academic success (Buelow et
al., 2018; Dixson, 2015; Hew, 2016).
Students who have behavioral, affective,
and cognitive engagement tend to have
higher achievement than students who
undergo online learning only for
graduation
requirements.
Good
interaction between students and teachers
will help students actively participate in
online learning. Furthermore, active
student participation will produce a
deeper impression for students in
interpreting the learning obtained.
Student engagement to learning can
be influenced by several factors, such as
students centred and collaborative
learning methods, interactions between
students and teachers, and learning
environments such as media and facilities
that support learning (Kahn et al., 2017).
In online learning, this engagement
problem becomes a very significant
factor because lecturers and students do
not meet face to face but use technology

as an intermediary, allowing the
obstacles to be experienced to be even
greater.
Therefore,
a
good
communication between lecturers and
students and choosing the right media are
highly required (Buelow et al., 2018;
Hew, 2016). Several studies have shown
that the use of social media can facilitate
communication between students and
teachers (Kahn et al., 2017). In addition,
choosing the right learning method and
platform also plays a role in the success
of learning. It is expected that the
lecturers can apply learning methods that
suit the needs of students and consider
existing
limitations.
Furthermore,
technical problems such as networks and
internet data should also be considered so
that the learning activities may be fun and
does not burden the students too much.
Considering the importance of the
engagement between students and
lecturers in the learning process, the
knowledge about learning engagement is
necessary to be understood by both the
lecturers and the students. For lecturers,
educators should understand that learning
is a process of receiving, processing, and
producing so that in designing learning it
is necessary to consider several things
such as student needs, student
backgrounds, and student involvement.
Learning as a process means that
students' understanding is not obtained
instantly, but it takes time and effort to
digest the knowledge gained. In addition,
teaching is not only about providing
material but also guiding students to
understand the material so that even
though learning is done online,
interactions must be maintained properly.
Meanwhile for students, students should
be aware that the subject of learning is the
students themselves, so that students
should be active in obtaining knowledge
and trying to understand it. Furthermore,
online learning is highly depending on
students’ motivation, how students
manage their learning strategies, and
students' independence in learning. Thus,

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J-LEE: Journal of Law, Economics, and English, 2 (01), Desember 2020 Tri Pujiani. (The
Importance of Building Students’ Engagement During Online Learning)

for the success of online learning, the
students and teachers’ understanding of
learning engagement is definitely
needed.

METHODOLOGY
This study is a descriptive research
that describes the importance of students’
engagement as well as providing some
tips obtained from the lecturers’
experiences during online learning.
Descriptive research is defined as a
research method that describes the
characteristics of the population or
phenomenon studied. The object studied
in this research is learning engagement.
The
data
was
obtained
from
questionnaire distributed to students as
well as leacturers and some semi
structured interviews conducted to some
lecturers.
This study was carried out in July
2020 at Harapan Bangsa University. The
participants of this study were classified
into two groups, student group and
lecturer group. The sample for student
group was taken from Undergraduate of
Nursing Students. Meanwhile, the
sample for lecturer group was taken
randomly.
As mentioned above, the instruments
used in this study were questionnaire and
interview. The purpose of this study was
to find out the obstacles experienced by
the students and the lecturer during the
online learning as well as to get some tips
about how to build learning engagement
during online learning.
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Based on a survey conducted on
students at Harapan Bangsa University,
some of the most common obstacles were
internet connection (71,4%), internet data
(57,1%), and assignments (28,6%).
Meanwhile, from the lecturers’ side, the
obstacles faced include the lack of

monitoring of students' understanding
because online communication, of
course, cannot be as optimal as direct or
face-to-face communication.
Although there were still many
obstacles, the students stated that they
were satisfied with the online learning
conducted at University of Harapan
Bangsa so far (64,3%) and they preferred
to have Blended Learning later when the
pandemic has overred (57,4%).
Related to learning engagement, the
students said that overall, the
communication between lecturers and
students during this online learning was
good. However, the tight schedule and
the number of assignments with strict
deadline made them difficult in
managing their time and more focused on
the asignment submission rather than the
knowledge mastery itself. From the
lecturers’ point of view, they mentioned
they had to do hard effort to monitor the
students’ progress one by one. Moreover,
the lecturers were required to keep
reminding the students to keep on track,
specifically related to assignment
submission and students’ active
participation.
Considering some problems above, at
the end of the interview the lecturers were
asked to give suggestions or tips based on
their experiences during online learning
related to how to manage online learning
especially
in
building
learning
engagement. Here is the summary of the
tips.
1. Train lecturers in online learning
The first thing that must be prepared
before implementing online learning
is to train lecturers about online
learning. Online learning is something
new for some lecturers. Therefore,
before plunging into it, lecturers need
to know what and how online learning
is. In addition, trained lecturers will
increase the students’ trust toward the
course. Furthermore, it will motivate
students to learn.
2. Rethink the lecture format

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J-LEE: Journal of Law, Economics, and English, 2 (01), Desember 2020 Tri Pujiani. (The
Importance of Building Students’ Engagement During Online Learning)

What is meant by rethinking the
lecture format is to review the
syllabus and lesson plans that will be
used. We need to consider which
topics or activities can be delivered
online and which cannot. Activities
that cannot be done online include
activities that require special
equipment that is only available in
laboratories and activities that require
students to visit certain places that
were closed during a pandemic. For
those kinds of activities, we need to
change them into the other activities
that possible the be done online. Or
the other possible solution is by
postponing it to the next semester
activities and take the materials from
next semester to be taught this
semester as the exchange.
3. Choose the platform or media
Several important things to consider
in choosing a platform or media
include educators who must know the
platform well so that they can operate
it optimally. In addition, the platform
must be easily accessible to both
educators and students. The purpose
of choosing a platform or media is to
facilitate
interaction
and
communication between educators
and students.
4. Be organized
The next tip is to organize the lecture
page neatly so that it makes it easier
for students to understand the lecture.
We recommend that the lecture page
be able to properly communicate the
identity of the course, learning
objectives,
rundown
meeting,
assignments and evaluations that must
be done. Examples of components of
online learning pages include covers,
opening greetings, course identities,
topics per meeting, as well as what to
do in each meeting such as forums,
video presentations, quizzes, and
attendance.
5. Welcome the students

Welcoming students is very important
in building student engagement with
lectures. At least once a semester it is
necessary to hold an online meeting
between students and teachers so that
they can meet face to face. The
purpose of this online meeting is to
establish closeness between students
and teachers, to explain the lecture
syllabus, and as a sharing platform for
students. In this meeting students can
share the problems they face during
online learning and their hopes for the
next lecture. It is hoped that from this
sharing session, educators can design
learning according to the needs of
students.
6. Set the goals
When the teacher explains the lecture
syllabus, the lecturer should ensure
that students really understand what
they are going to study, what they
have to do, what their rights and
obligations are and the conditions that
must be met to be able to pass from
this lecture.
7. Chunk it!
Chunk it means Organizing the topic
of each meeting in concise and clear
information. Meetings that only focus
on one specific point will be easier to
understand than meetings that cover
several points. This is because the
student's ability to concentrate on
something is very limited, generally
not more than 20 minutes. More than
that, students need to refresh their
minds for a moment before continuing
learning. Therefore, a short video
presentation is recommended.
8. Vary and gamify the activities
To avoid boredom in online learning,
interesting and varied activities are
needed, for example by making video
presentations that are interesting and
not monotonous, by making quizzes
with various types of questions and
interesting feedback if students can
achieve certain grades, the use of free

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J-LEE: Journal of Law, Economics, and English, 2 (01), Desember 2020 Tri Pujiani. (The
Importance of Building Students’ Engagement During Online Learning)

online learning games such as kahoot,
quizlet, and others.
9. Monitor the progress and give
feedback
Monitoring the progress of learning is
something that is often forgotten by
lecturers because they are too busy in
preparing the learning itself. Giving
feedback to students is very important
to motivate students so that they can
do better in the next assignment. At
least once a week, educators need to
monitor student learning progress so
that if there are problems they can be
immediately identified and resolved.
In essence, good communication is
needed to keep leacturers and students
connected to each other.
10. Encourage self-assessment
Self-assessment is an individual
review performed to identify elements
that can be improved or exploited to
achieve certain predefined goals. In
order to assess themselves, students
must set their own targets for the
activity, for example a quiz. After
working on the quiz and it turns out
that the results have not met the target,
the student must retake the quiz until
he can reach the predetermined target.
Therefore, lecturers need to facilitate
online learning with quizzes that can
be done repeatedly. The more
Exercises are taken, the deeper
understanding is gained.
11. Be flexible
One of the advantages of online
learning is that it is flexible, which
means learning is not limited by time
and place. To facilitate this, lecturers
need to develop a timeline when the
materials and assignments can be
accessed by students. Give a grace
period, for example 1 week for each
meeting.
12. Update your content
The last tip is to always update the
content of the lecture. Topics that
have been used for years may be
strange to current students and are no

longer relevant. By using topics that
are up to date and relevant to students'
backgrounds, it will be easier for
students to understand the material
presented and easier to be involved in
discussions.

CONCLUSION
Based on the explanation above, it is
undeniable that adjustment and selfreflection are still required to provide
high quality teaching and learning.
Although the implementation of online
learning has been good, there are still
some problems to be solved. Learning
engagement is one of the important
elements in learning because it can
determine students' academic success.
Learning engagement can be built when
there is active participation from the
lecturers and the students in the learning
process. Some tips above can be applied
to motivate the students to be active
learners.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Finally,
the
researcher
was
enormously grateful to be given
permission to conduct this research.
Special thanks were dedicated to the
Dean of Social Science Faculty, to all
lecturers participated in this research, to
the beloved students and all parts who
contribute to this research.
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Importance of Building Students’ Engagement During Online Learning)

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