An fsQCA approach to identifying pathways to K-9 students’ online learning engagement

Abstract

Student engagement has been shown to function as a pathway leading to valued educational outcomes. This study used fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to reveal how various configurations of sex, grade level, teaching presence, social presence, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and parental support lead to high online learning engagement (OLE) in a sample of 516 compulsory education (K-9) students from three provinces in Central and Eastern China. The results indicated that eight configurations of the conditions were required to attain high OLE. Of these, one configuration was sufficient to explain high OLE for all students regardless of sex and grade level, five different configurations lead to high OLE for elementary school students, and one configuration explained high OLE for boys and girls regardless of grade level. Identifying these specific configurations could help teachers to design and provide personalized online learning experiences that enhance student engagement.

Keywords:

• K-9 students
• online learning
• student engagement
• online learning engagement
• fsQCA
• configurational approach

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest is declared by the author(s).

Informed consent statement

All participants were made aware that their participation in the study was voluntary, they could withdraw from the study at any time without penalty, and their personal identifiable information would be kept anonymous in all publications and presentations. By voluntarily completing the survey, all participants were considered to have given their consent to participate.

Institutional Review Board statement

This research study was conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the Helsinki Declaration. The Central China Normal University Institutional Review Board (CCNU IRB) usually exempts educational research from the requirement of ethical approval. This study was granted an exemption from the required ethical approval by the CCNU IRB because the survey was anonymous and did not include sensitive questions.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Higher Education Teaching Reform Research and Practice Project of Henan Province (No. 2021SJGLX254), the Teacher Education Curriculum Reform Research Project of Henan Province (No. 2024-JSJYYB-061), the Soft Science Project of Henan Province (Research on Intelligent Evaluation of Student Engagement in Smart Learning Environment) (No. 242400410211), and the Innovation team construction project of research on elementary education teacher development in Henan province “Intelligent technology enables high-quality development of rural teachers”.

Notes on contributors

Yunpeng Ma

Yunpeng Ma is an associate professor at Zhoukou Normal University, and a doctoral student at Faculty of Artificial Intelligence in Education (FAIE) in Central China Normal University (CCNU), his research efforts focus on innovations in online and blended learning environments.

Mingzhang Zuo

Mingzhang Zuo is a professor at FAIE in CCNU, his recent research focuses on theory and application of educational technology, educational informatization, teacher professional development, and learning analysis.

Yujie Yan

Yujie Yan is a PhD student at FAIE in CCNU. Her main research interests include the application of educational technology, educational informatization, and teacher professional development.

Heng Luo

Heng Luo is an associate professor at FAIE in CCNU, his current research interests include instructional design, online learning assessment and learning analytics.

Kunyu Wang

Kunyu Wang is a PhD student at FAIE in CCNU. Her main research interests include the application of educational technology, experiential learning, time management, and student self-development.