Why do students disengage from online courses?

• Published in: The Internet and higher education 2024-06, Vol.62, p.100948, Article 100948
• Main Author: Mazman Akar, Sacide Güzin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cyberloafing; Disengagement; Online learning; Satisfaction; Self-regulation
• ISSN: 1096-7516; 1873-5525
• DOI: 10.1016/j.iheduc.2024.100948

One of the most significant issues with online education is that students disengage and eventually drop out of the course due to their inability to remain active in the online environment. Thus, disengagement from online courses has been seen as an important obstacle to the successful continuation of the online learning process. This study aimed to empirically explore the disengagement from online courses with a proposed model. A structural model was tested to explain the causal relationship among disengagement, cyberloafing, self-regulation skills, and satisfaction in online learning. The study group consisted of 843 undergraduates from a midsized institution in Turkey who were enrolled in an online course at the time of the study. Results showed that cyberloafing and satisfaction were significant predictors of disengagement, while self-regulation had an indirect effect on it. The study's findings indicated that online instructors and educational policymakers should focus more on fostering satisfaction and enhancing students' self-regulation abilities while keeping cyberloafing under control to prevent disengagement from online courses in the age of digital transformation. •A structural model was used to investigate predictors of online learning disengagement.•Cyberloafing was the most important predictor of disengagement.•Satisfaction has a negative effect on disengagement.•Self-regulation has an indirect effect on disengagement rather than a direct effect.