Observational study of student engagement and its relationship to design elements of remote discussion sections

Intentional course design that promotes student engagement has been shown to enhance academic satisfaction, motivation, and performance. In this work, we investigate key elements of discussion sections that have been highlighted in prior literature and their effects on student engagement in a remote setting. We quantify student engagement through direct measurement of camera, mic, and chat usage in a Zoom-mediated discussion section for university chemistry courses in order to determine student visual and verbal presence. The results of this investigation suggest that design elements of chemistry discussion sections have varying impacts on student behaviors online. The combination of required attendance, instructional staff movement between breakout rooms, and small group sizes are associated with higher camera usage, while the incorporation of assigned activities, groups, and roles lead to further improvements in student use of mic and chat. Additionally, this study shows that the average level of student engagement remains relatively consistent across the academic term, which suggests participation expectations should be set early in the course. Therefore, the design elements explored in this study may be incorporated to increase verbal and visual student presence for best practices in online chemistry discussion sections.