Factors affecting students’ learning performance through collaborative learning and engagement

TLDR

Higher education is increasingly adopting active‑learning classrooms to engage students. The study investigates how social factors influence collaborative learning and engagement, and whether these mediate the relationship between social factors and student learning performance. Using constructivism theory, the authors surveyed university students with questionnaires to assess learning behavior. Structural equation modeling revealed that social factors—peer and teacher interaction, social presence, and social media use—positively influence collaborative learning and engagement, which in turn enhance student learning performance, supporting a double‑mediation pathway.

Abstract

In higher educational institutes, developing classrooms for active learning is becoming a part of comprehensive educational drive for students involving and engaging in learning. For this purpose, influence of social factors on collaborative learning and engagement has been investigated which will influence learning performance of students. The study looked at following areas: (a) the ability of social factors for developing collaborative learning and engagement and (b) whether collaborative learning and engagement mediate a link between social factors and student's learning performance. Constructivism theory has been utilized to observe the student's learning behavior. Data have been collected through questionnaires from university students. Findings evaluated through structural equation modeling (SEM), shows that social factors, i.e. interaction with peers and teachers, social presence, and usage of social media positively impact active collaborative learning and student involvement, thus affecting their learning performance. The findings also provide evidence for double mediation used in this study. As online learning is becoming more prevalent in education, it has been concluded that overall collaborative learning and engagement with influence of social factors improve activities of students learning; therefore, their usage should be stimulated in teaching and learning in higher educational institutions as it influences students' academic development.