Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education       ISSN: 1759-667X 

Special Issue 22: Compendium of Innovative Practice                                 October 2021 

 

Editorial: Fostering student engagement 

 

Gita Sedghi 
University of Liverpool 
 

 

Engagement, linked with high-quality learning outcomes, plays a crucial role in student 

learning and experience of higher education. The concept of ‘student engagement’ is 

based on the belief that learning improves when students are fully involved in their learning 

(Deslauriers, 2019). Establishing constructive and collaborative relationships with students 

is a critical element of learning development practice but became hugely challenging 

during the pandemic, especially the first lockdown. Although students’ presence in a 

classroom never guaranteed their engagement and participation, this engagement was 

significantly affected during the sudden shift to the virtual classroom. There were also 

several barriers to gauging student engagement, with turned-off cameras being noted by 

educators as one of the most prominent. This section showcases several practitioners’ 

innovations to enhance and measure student engagement during remote learning and 

teaching in higher education. 

 

The authors explain specific challenges they faced in HyFlex classrooms, particular issues 

with international student engagement, student anxiety over entering the ‘cyber abyss’ of 

online learning, and delivery of courses that required greater attention and self-regulatory 

behaviour. Conducting and facilitating small group laboratory sessions whilst considering 

any limitations due to Covid-19 safety measures needed careful planning. The challenges 

the educators confronted included introducing students to a more active and engaged 

method of learning while having to accommodate limited access to technology and reliable 

internet connections. 

 

Various responses to these challenges to enhance student engagement are introduced in 

this section. The authors show how playful learning and reflective thinking empowered 

students to construct knowledge and apply it to classroom discussions; attendance data, 

chat box comments, and feedback questionnaires were used to measure engagement. 

Building relationships with students outside the classroom, establishing relationships of 



Editorial 

Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, Issue 22: Compendium              October 2021 

trust and integrating subject knowledge and learning development were utilised to 

enhance student participation; the shift to hybrid and online interactions was exploited to 

influence programme priorities, with student engagement in mind; the nature of personal 

tutor meetings was changed to offer greater support and enhance students' academic and 

personal development. 

 

This section offers a set of recommendations for enhancing engagement with staff and 

students in the hybrid context, student-to-student communication in group work, and 

tightening approaches to responding to absence. It demonstrates how learning developers 

helped ensure that individual students’ communications with staff, other students, and the 

institution were effective during the pandemic. The stories of challenges, responses and 

recommendations in this section showcase the learning developer role to help bridge the 

gap between subject teaching and LD provision. The collaboration between educators has 

been highlighted as a critical element in most initiatives to enhance student engagement. 

 

 

References: 

 

Deslauriers, L., McCarty, L.S., Miller, K., Callaghan, K. and Kestin, G. (2019) ‘Measuring 

actual learning versus feeling of learning in response to being actively engaged in the 

classroom’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(39), pp.19251-

19257. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1821936116 (Accessed: 4 

September 2021). 

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1821936116