Abstract:

Objective:
To understand the key dimensions of student online engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic in the State of Qatar.

Background:
With 95.0% of households with Internet access, 132 mobile subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, and 120 active mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (ITU, 2020), Qatar consistently ranks as one of the most connected regions in the Arab world and internationally. However, virtual learning was not a standard pedagogical practice until the arrival of the international university branch campuses of Education City in the last two decades. Thus only a small number of research studies of Qatar’s online learning landscape have been conducted and only 4 studies related to student engagement were located in a comprehensive literature search from 2010-2021. Therefore all aspects of student engagement in virtual spaces, and specifically novel engagement issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, are relatively unknown.

Methodology:
Human subjects approval was granted on 26 April, 2021 by Hamad bin Khalifa University IRB number: QBRI-IRB 2020-11-037. A comprehensive literature search was performed in November, 2021 that combined keyword and subject headings in the domains of instructional technology, institutional setting, and Qatar as a geographic location using Scopus, Web of Science, and ERIC databases. A 2-hour audio-taped focus group using a semi-structured interview script was conducted with five e-learning experts in higher education in Qatar (average number years teaching = 25.7; total online courses taught = 60; total years teaching online = 38.0). Experts also completed an online questionnaire on the topic. Word frequency calculation was carried out using WordSmith Tools v.6 to identify themes in the audio transcripts. Dual coders using a modified form of Strauss and Corbin’s Grounded Theory methodology (1994) generated initial hand notes, and textual data was then uploaded to NVivo 12.0 software. A single coder refined the themes and subthemes, then interviewed the focus group experts again to enrich their initial observations.

Discussion and Results:
Online student engagement is not well studied in Qatar and the Middle East. Experts indicated that unique cultural, technological and to a minor extent policy, issues strongly impacted student engagement during the pandemic. The use of cameras in interactive videoconference activities emerged as a major theme possibly due to local Islamic values (covering of women). Kinaesthetic (‘hands-on’) learning such as studios and laboratory work did not translate well into virtual space, especially during the abrupt transition to emergency remote learning. Organizing personal learning spaces at home was challenging due to strong privacy customs among Gulf Arabs and large family units sharing space. Affective (emotional) educational engagement was strongly impacted by non-pedagogical factors related to the pandemic, such as anxiety, fatigue, isolation and depression. Remote emergency learning offered several unforeseen areas for novel student engagement: private messaging through chat, ease of one-one meetings, and increased instructor-student bonding through sharing homelife experiences and the universally-shared pandemic situation.

Keywords:

Online student engagement, Qatar, e-learning, COVID-19 pandemic.