Online student engagement in the Turkish context: a prisma-based systematic review

Abstract

The ability to interact or engage with the instructor, other students, and the content i.e., to experience online student engagement, is one main difference between traditional and digital media employed in teaching and learning processes. As literature on this topic in the Turkish context has proliferated, to date, virtually no systematic reviews of this research have been carried out in order to identify potential gaps in the literature. To address this issue, this study investigated previously conducted research in chronological order on student engagement at the post-secondary level in the Turkish context using a PRISMA-based systematic review screening process. The results show that online engagement research and practices have clearly increased and diversified over time. Specifically, online engagement research in the Turkish context has tended to focus on computer science students studying in online-only, LMS-supported environments where their behavioral engagement has been investigated quantitatively. Considering these findings, this systematic review suggests that future studies in the Turkish context should examine other fields besides computer science education, focus more on collaborative tools and the social dimension of engagement, use more qualitative methods, and investigate blended environments as well as online-only.