Conceptualising Student Engagement in Higher Education

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5204/ssj.3710

Keywords:

Student Engagement Framework, Ella Kahu, student experience, first year experience

Abstract

This special issue of Student Success celebrates the work of Professor Ella Kahu and her substantial contribution to the advancement of our collective understanding of student engagement. In June 2024 Professors Karen Nelson and Chi Baik, and Dr Cat Picton sat down with Ella for a reflective conversation about her work, and additional insights in her theorising and research on student experience and engagement. In this special issue, we present the interview transcript in three parts and showcase Ella’s key publications.

Understanding student engagement has become essential for retention and success in higher education. This first part of the issue brings together three influential articles that have contributed to advancing our conceptualisation of student engagement. The first article, Framing Student Engagement in Higher Education (Kahu, 2013), offers a foundational review of prevailing perspectives on student engagement and proposing a comprehensive framework to address existing definitional and conceptual gaps. Building on this foundation, the second article by Ella and Karen Nelson, Student Engagement in the Educational Interface: Understanding the Mechanisms of Student Success (Kahu & Nelson, 2018) introduces the “educational interface”—a metaphor for the space where student and institutional factors interact, affecting engagement. This article refines our understanding of engagement by identifying key psychosocial constructs that mediate this interaction. The third article, Pathways to Engagement: A Longitudinal Study of the First-Year Student Experience in the Educational Interface, a collaborative study by Ella Kahu, Karen Nelson, and Catherine Picton, (Kahu et al., 2020) employs longitudinal research to trace the first-year student experience within this educational interface, providing empirical support for the framework and underscoring the importance of self-efficacy, belonging, emotions, and wellbeing in the engagement process. Together, these articles deepen our understanding of the theoretical and practical aspects of student engagement, providing educators and policymakers with insights to shape more effective engagement strategies.

 

Journal articles:

Kahu, E. R. (2013). Framing student engagement in higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 38(5), 758-773. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2011.598505

Kahu, E. R., & Nelson, K. (2018) Student engagement in the educational interface: Understanding the mechanisms of student success. Higher Education Research & Development, 37(1), 58-71. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2017.1344197

Kahu, E. R., & Picton, C., & Nelson, K. (2020). Pathways to engagement: A longitudinal study of the first-year student experience in the educational interface. Higher Education, 79(4), 657-673. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-019-00429-w

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Catherine Picton, University of the Sunshine Coast

Dr Catherine Picton is a Student Success and Development Coordinator at the University of the Sunshine Coast. Her research interests include students’ experiences of student services, student engagement, and academic student success advising, with a focus on the regional university experience. Cat has extensively researched and published with Professor Ella Kahu, forging a powerful professional partnership and lifelong friendship. In her current professional role, Cat is implementing a pan-university, embedded approach to student development focussing on cross-disciplinary skills and competencies. This works stems from a Regional University Network collaboration and the development of an Advising Curriculum (Picton et al., 2021). Cat is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) and has a keen interest in the recognition of integrated ‘third space’ practitioners who work across professional and academic boundaries.  

Chi Baik, The University of Melbourne

Chi is a Professor of Higher Education at the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Melbourne, where her research explores factors influencing the educational experiences and outcomes of students from diverse backgrounds. She has led major funded studies that have informed institutional policies and practices including national projects on the first-year experience, international student engagement, and student mental wellbeing.

She is currently leading an interdisciplinary Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery project investigating alterable factors that impact student mental health and wellbeing in Australian universities.

In addition to leading a large research group on the Student Experience in Higher Education and supervising doctoral candidates, much of Chi’s work at the CSHE focuses on the development of programs and resources to promote and recognise effective university teaching and to improve student engagement.

Conversations with Ella Kahu - Special Issue

Downloads

Published

2024-12-04

How to Cite

Picton, C., & Baik, C. (2024). Conceptualising Student Engagement in Higher Education. Student Success, 15(3), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.5204/ssj.3710

Issue

Vol. 15 No. 3 (2024): Special Issue: Conversations with Ella Kahu

Section

Part 1: Conceptualising Student Engagement in Higher Education

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Catherine Picton, Chi Baik

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors retain copyright and grant the Journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International Licence (CC BY 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.