Engaging psychology students at a distance: Reflections on Australian and Canadian experiences

Engagement enhances learning, particularly for abstract and theoretical concepts. This paper is an instructor reflection on student engagement with a case example of mobile learning for two differing senior undergraduate psychology courses, Theories of Counselling and Psychotherapy and Ethics and Current Issues in Psychology. The instructor was experienced and the students were Canadian or Australian, respectively. The courses compared were delivered through an asynchronous online-enhanced distance model for a Canadian university and through a blended learning model for an Australian university. Issues with student engagement are explored through a review of informal and formal student feedback and instructor reflection. Although motivational instruction was a consistent factor in the course and instructional evaluations, this case example highlights the elusive nature of student engagement given the multiple factors involved in student expectations and needs and differing models of delivery for these undergraduate psychology courses. The author is left acknowledging only that different learning opportunities benefit the range of psychology students who may engage in them