Preliminary Abstract

Student engagement has been examined as it relates to positive outcomes for specific course performance and integration with the larger academic community relative to retention, assessment and social integration (Effects From Student Engagement Online, 2014). Engagement has been defined in various ways, however it generally refers to students’ experience with social-emotional, behavioral and cognitive constructs (Edel-Malizia & Brautigam, 2014). For course specific engagement, these constructs are endeavored through many techniques yet focus on varied pedagogical approaches to students’ interface with course content, peer collaborative learning, and instructor interaction, often associated with high impact practices (HIPs) {Dubas, 2016 #588;Hall, 2016 #600;,  #1379;,  #1410;Gebre, 2014 #597;Edel-Malizia, 2014 #589;Collins, 2014 #598;Carr, 2014 #1416;Banna, 2015 #1406;Harbour, 2015 #585;Trowler, 2010 #1420;Kuh, 2009 #1421;Brownell, 2009 #1422;Kuh, 2008 #1423;Kuh, 2009 #1421}. This study examines the efficacy of an online course engagement rubric. The engagement rubric compliments a pedagogical approach aligned with established student course specific engagement constructs, and incentivizes students for associated positive course engagement behaviors. The engagement rubric is intended to provide a simple structure to compel online course participation beyond that of “checking the boxes for points†and course completion, while acknowledging certain limitations associated with HIPs and online courses. A linear regression is estimated to include student engagement measures, student academic metrics from student records, and demographics with course grades as the dependent variable. Data retrieved are associated with five online courses from a mid sized public university (N=101).