Adaptation of the Scale of Student Engagement in Online Learning Environments into Turkish Language

The development of technology and the widespread use of online education environments have emphasized the importance of engagement, which plays a critical role in an effective and efficient learning experience in online learning environments. Since there is no measurement tool in the literature to reveal different aspects of engagement, a multidimensional concept that requires effort, motivation, belonging, and commitment beyond just being present in the lesson, a scale adaptation was made to fill this gap. In our study, we adapted the ‘Student Engagement in Online Learning Environments Scale’ (SEOLES) developed by Inder (2021), which examines participation with the dimensions of skill, emotional, cognitive, social, performance, and valuing the lesson, into Turkish language. The adaptation process involved translation and retranslation through consultation with language and field experts, followed by pre-pilot and pilot applications. A total of 628 participants with at least one semester of distance education experience contributed to the study. Reliability analysis showed high scale reliability (α=.968) and scales' dimensions reliability values ranging from .814 to .919. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) indicated good fit indices (e.g., RMSEA=.063, CFI=.941, GFI=.880). Convergent validity was supported by CR values exceeding .7 and AVE values over .5 for all factors, while divergent validity was achieved with most HTMT values below 0.90. These results confirm the scale’s valid and reliable structure in Turkish. This adaptation provides a comprehensive tool for evaluating engagement in online learning, aiding higher education institutions in improving and restructuring their practices to enhance student engagement in distance education.