Factors Influencing Student Engagement in Open Distance Learning (ODL)

The novel coronavirus, or Covid-19, has been announced a pandemic by World Health Organization (WHO) as the virus started spreading throughout the world and it has worsened from time to time with many new variants. The pandemic affected the country’s econ omy, and the education sector was not excluded. This situation forced most of the education sector to implement and adapt the online learning method through various online platforms. The lecturer’s - student interaction and the lecturer’s teaching method ar e the factors influencing students’ engagement in open distance learning. Hence, this study will determine the relationship between both factors and student engagement among students in UiTM Kampus Bandaraya Melaka. This study adopted a quantitative research approach to elicit data. An online survey using Google form application is used to distribute the questionnaires. A total of 80 undergraduates participated in this study. Data were analysed via SPSS software and descriptive analysis. The findings indicated that there is a significant relationship between lecturer-students interaction and the lecturer’s teaching method that influence student engagement in UiTM Kampus Bandaraya Melaka. Correlation and Multiple Regression Analysis indicate that there is a positive association between factors influencing student engagement and open distance learning (ODL). Additional research is required to obtain a deeper understanding of the elements that influence student involvement.


Introduction
The novel coronavirus, or Covid-19, has been announced a pandemic by World Health Organization (WHO) as the virus started spreading throughout the world and it has worsened from time to time with many new variants. The pandemic affected the country's economy and the education sector was not excluded. This situation forced most of the education sector to implement and adapt the online learning method through various online platforms. However, it has been a sudden increase in the use of online learning, which, has been used for the past few decades (Salas-Pilco et al., 2022).
As the Covid-19 became a global concern, the education ministries agreed to advocate open distance learning (ODL) and continue to implement new education strategies with the use of online learning at all education levels. Hence, the teaching and learning methods are done remotely and only through digital platforms such as Google Meet, Webex or Zoom Meeting. This chapter will identify the factors influencing students' engagement in open distance learning (ODL) as well as the background of research, problem statement, research question, research objectives, the definition of terms, the significance of study and scope of the study. Students must have the knowledge of the emerging technologies nowadays which includes the students' ability to engage with their lecturers and classmates. Besides, it is crucial for the students to have a good engagement with their lecturers as it can help the students to have a better understanding despite having to learn it online (Bond et al., 2020). The implementation of online learning posed challenges to both the students and lecturers, as they were not familiar with the open distance learning (ODL) method as it is more challenging than a traditional learning method, which is a face-to-face or physical class, such as the lecturer's teaching style whether they used monologic lectures, mixed lectures, interactive lectures or dialogic lectures (Mohamed, 2021). There are many factors that affected the student engagement towards open distance learning (ODL) such as lecturer's-student interaction which consists of their behavioural engagement, cognitive engagement and affective engagement (Salaz-Pilco et al., 2022). These dimensions have some characteristics, which these dimensions can be both positive and negative behaviour that is associated with the learning process and its environments. According to Seabi (2012), this shows student engagement is related to the psychological atmosphere which conveys that a good environment increases students' engagement in open distance learning (ODL). Lecturer's teaching method is also one of the factors affecting open distance learning (ODL). This is because some lecturers deliver their lessons in a long video lecture and can be considered boring and less student engagement between lecturer and student, which, two ways communication isn't likely to occur in the open distance learning (ODL) sessions. According to the statement above, the lecturer's-student interaction and the lecturer's teaching method are the factors influencing students' engagement in open distance learning.

Problem Statement
Under the global shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic, educators and students encounter challenges in keeping the learning goes smooth. Consequently, students have less engagement during ODL because this is not an efficient method of learning. The purpose of this study is to identify the factors influencing students' engagement in open distance learning (ODL) among UiTM Kampus Bandaraya Melaka's students. There is no specific research conducted regarding students' engagement during ODL among UiTM Kampus Bandaraya Melaka's students. Therefore, this matter urges us to discover more specifically the factors influencing students' engagement in ODL. During this situation, Covid-19 gives a huge impact on students as the university needs to change their mode of learning to online instead of face to face.

Research Questions
Does there any relationship between lecturer-student interaction and lecturer's teaching method with student engagement in Open Distance Learning (ODL)?

Methodology
This study employed the quantitative method to collect data. This study had respondents from Universiti Teknologi Mara Kampus Bandaraya Melaka. A total of 80 undergraduates responded, 7 males and 73 females. A set of questionnaires was distributed via google link and data were analyzed using descriptive analysis.   11.198). The mean square of regression and residual is 5.599 and 0.152. P value for regression is 0.000 which is below than 0.05. Therefore, the overall model is valid.  Table above shows the coefficient of the model. The standardized coefficients for the lecturer-student's interaction with beta weight is 0.258 while lecturer's teaching method is 0.384.

Conclusion
The title of this study was "Factors influencing student engagement in open distance learning (ODL)" among UiTM Kampus Bandaraya Melaka students in the Faculty of Business and Management and Faculty of Hotel and Tourism Management from Semester 1 until Semester 6 with different ages, gender and level of study. The study aimed to discover the factors associated with student engagement due to open distance learning (ODL). The online questionnaire was completed by 80 respondents and the data was analysed. Based on the findings, the correlational analysis shows the value of 0.613 for Lecturer-Students Interaction with Student's Engagement and 0.658 for lecturer-teaching method with Student's Engagement. The adjusted R square shows that 47.5% of the independent variables, lecturer students' interaction and lecturer teaching method can explain by dependent variables, student's engagement. The Coefficients significant value for both independent variables is 0.005 and 0.000, which is lest that 0.05.
The finding show that there is a significant relationship between lecturer-students interaction and the lecturer's teaching method that influence student engagement in UiTM Kampus Bandaraya Melaka. This hypothesis is supported by evidence that is related to our independent variables and dependent variables that can be seen from the R-square, f-test and beta coefficient results. So, there is a positive relationship between independent variables and dependent variables as there are affecting each other for this study. To conclude, the strength of the relationship is good and there is a positive relationship between lecturer-student interaction and lecturer's teaching method with student engagement in Open Distance Learning (ODL)

Recommendations
The independent variable of the study is positively significant which is Lecturer-Student Interaction and Lecturer's Teaching Method does affect the dependent variable, Student Engagement. It is because poor teaching methods will affect Lecturer-Student Interaction which it will make the students distract from the courses and will lead them to have poor performance in class. It will also make the students feel demotivated. Therefore, it is recommended that the lecturer should find an effective teaching method that suits the student's preference such as applying flipped classroom concept. The students will review the study material before the lecturer gives their lecture regarding the topic. Besides, the lecturer can also organize game-based teaching to avoid the students from getting bored and increase their engagement with the lesson without stress. Both, suggestion for Lecturer-Student Interaction and Lecturer's Teaching Method could create a better Student Engagement in Open Distance Learning (ODL). As the research method for this study, the online questionnaire is used to obtain the research findings. Correlation and Multiple Regression Analysis indicate that there is a positive association between factors influencing student engagement and open distance learning (ODL). Lastly, there are data collection constraints in our study. Therefore, additional research is required to obtain a deeper understanding of the elements that influence student involvement.