Student engagement: The core model and inter-cohort analysis.

Prior research in higher education shows that engagement has been inconsistently conceptualized: semantic inconsistency has been compounded by variations in the constructs used to operationalize engagement. Acknowledging these limitations, we conceptualize student engagement as a multi-faceted meta-construct, overcoming some of the limitations evident in prior studies. This supports a research design that enables us to tap the capacity of the LMS at our institution to operationalize the constructs that undergird the Bundrick et al (2014) model. Our inter-cohort analysis reveals significant variations in individuals' engagement with the on-line course. Our findings suggest that interactions among the primary elements of the learning environment-the student, the teacher, and the content- significantly affect engagement and student outcomes. Our findings also suggest an urgent need to deepen investigation of student engagement to more fully investigate the dynamics of interaction as on-line learning environments account for an increasing proportion of higher education.