CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS FOR ONLINE LEARNING ENGAGEMENT AMONG UNDERGRADUATES IN NORTH-WESTERN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES

Umma ABDULWAHID; A. Taura ABDULLAHI; Abdul-Wahab, A. IBRAHIM; Maruff A. OLADEJO

ABDULWAHID Umma; Faculty of Education, Sule Lamido University, Kafin Hausa, Jigawa State
ABDULLAHI A. Taura; Faculty of Education, Sule Lamido University, Kafin Hausa, Jigawa State
IBRAHIM A. Abdul-Wahab; Faculty of Education, Sule Lamido University, Kafin Hausa, Jigawa State
OLADEJO M. Akinwale; Faculty of Education, Sule Lamido University, Kafin Hausa, Jigawa State

Abstract

Students’ engagement is an essential prerequisite for successful learning. However, there appears to be very little discussion of engagement in online learning context. This study therefore investigated critical success factors namely active learning strategies (Minute paper, Small group discussions, and Short presentation) and students’ psychological attributes (Self-regulations skill, Locus of control, and Technological attitudes) for online learning engagement among undergraduates in North-western Nigerian universities. The study was piloted by two research questions, using the descriptive research design. The study population comprises the entire 192,353 undergraduates from 28 Universities, while the sample size is 2,048 participants selected through proportionate stratified random sampling technique. Multiple regression Analysis was used for data analysis. Findings showed that the three selected active learning strategies jointly and significantly contributed 3.7% to the variance, while their relative contributions as ranked by importance are small group discussions (β=.334), short presentation (β=.045), and minute paper (β=.034). Further, the three selected students’ psychological attributes made 8.8% significant joint contribution to the variance, while their relative contributions as ranked by importance are technological attitudes (β=.145), self-regulations skill (β=.056), and locus of control (β=.012). Active learning strategies and students’ psychological attributes are critical success factors for online learning engagement among undergraduates. Understanding students' academic behavior relies heavily on their level of engagement in learning. It was therefore recommended among others that all the selected explanatory variables in this study should always be taken into serious consideration in an attemt at promoting effective online learning engagement among the students.