Does Teacher and Student-Student Support Influence Students’ Engagement in an Online Course?

Abstract

Past studies have shown that student engagement can be positively predicted by the teacher and student-student support, but it remains unclear whether the teacher and student-student support of online courses are beneficial or not. Currently, many students are required to take online courses because of the COVID-19, the difference in teaching and learning environment has caused many impacts on student's learning. Therefore, it becomes necessary to find out how the student's engagement changes in this new environment. The present study examines whether teacher and studentstudent support is a positive predictor of student engagement in students' requirement of taking a course online. All data of 208 participants (69 males & 139 females) have been collected through an online questionnaire survey. Consists of our hypothesis, results show that teacher and student-student support is a positive predictor of that. The support can significantly promote student engagement under the background of online study, and Chinese university students' engagement in an online class is relatively high in behaviour, emotional and cognitive dimensions.