How Does Health Professions Student Engagement Differ Across Campuses In A Synchronous Multi-Campus Learning Environment?

Student engagement is positively associated with academic achievement, student satisfaction, and retention. In synchronous multi-campus learning, students learn simultaneously while physically located at several campuses throughout the state. This educational model is one way to address the rural health care shortage, as many students who study at rural campuses tend to stay in rural areas to practice. Student engagement is crucial to ensuring that students at rural campuses have a comparable learning experience and to help those students feel like they are a valued part of the class. The purpose of this study was to evaluate health professions student and instructor classroom engagement in a synchronous multi-campus learning environment. Research questions were 1) How does student classroom engagement differ across campuses in a synchronous multi-campus learning environment? 2) How does instructor engagement differ in courses where students are synchronously attending classes on two or more separate campuses? This study used a cross-sectional, convergent mixed methods approach to address these questions. The CLASSEstudent survey collected student responses about their frequency of classroom engagement practices through Likert scale. The CLASSEfaculty survey collected instructor responses about the importance of similar classroom engagement practices in their courses through Likert scale. Student and instructor participants shared their perceptions of student engagement across campuses in a synchronous multi-campus learning environment through semi-structured interviews. Student themes were accountability, connection with instructors, and microphone intimidation. Instructor themes were interpersonal connection and v deliberate engagement efforts. Findings suggest that there are not significant differences across campuses for engagement with content or engagement with peers, but engagement with instructors showed significant differences across campuses. Instructor findings corroborated these results. Strengths and recommendations were identified. This study exposes an area of improvement in reducing disparities across campuses at a synchronous multi-campus institution. A student-centric approach to student engagement for students at rural campuses can lead to better student satisfaction and retention, which is particularly important in light of the current rural health care shortage.