Abstract—The paper describes a model of engaging students
in fully online or blended learning environments. To do this, I
first discuss the notion of student engagement and how it relates
to the Self-Determination Theory of motivation. Next, I
reviewed a number of online learning policy guidelines from
four professional councils around the world in order to elicit
specific guidelines related to the design of online learning
courses, and student engagement. Following that, I analyzed
two most highly-rated MOOCs. I analyzed the structural
features of the two MOOCs and the comments of both
participants who completed the courses, and who partially
completed or dropped out. Altogether, comments from 839
participants were examined. Finally, using these empirical data
and the policy guidelines from the four professional
organizations, I outline a rudimentary model of engaging
students in online learning courses, based on six major
instructional design elements.
Index Terms—Online learning, blended learning, massive
open online learning, MOOCs, e-learning, instructional design,
engagement, motivation, self-determination theory.
Khe Foon Hew is with the Division of Information & Technology Studies,
Faulty of Education at the University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong
Kong (e-mail: kfhew@hku.hk).
Cite: Khe Foon Hew, "Towards a Model of Engaging Online Students: Lessons from MOOCs and Four Policy Documents," International Journal of Information and Education Technology vol. 5, no. 6, pp. 425-431, 2015.