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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Higher Education
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1557379
Faculty Experiences with Active Student Engagement in Online Doctoral Courses During the COVID-19 Era: Challenges and Opportunities-A qualitative study
Provisionally accepted- Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet (KI), Huddinge, Sweden
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Objective: During the COVID-19 pandemic, universities quickly transitioned from campusbased to online education. However, there is limited insight into how faculty members experienced this transition, particularly in doctoral courses where active student engagement is crucial. This study aimed to explore faculty members' experiences in promoting active student engagement in online doctoral courses during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: A qualitative, inductive approach with a descriptive design was used. Eleven faculty members (3 men and 8 women, median age 51) who served as course leaders in doctoral courses during the pandemic were interviewed. The interviews were analyzed according to reflexive thematic analysis. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and analyzed according to reflexive thematic analysis.The analysis generated four themes, Facilitating student learning through flexibility and time for reflection, Using social interaction as a catalyst for learning, Enabling student interaction through a safe and structured online environment, and Engaging in digital tools to create variation and engagement.Our results suggest that the shift to online education during the pandemic accelerated the development of online doctoral courses, driven by adjustments prioritizing social interaction, self-directed learning, and digital tools. However, challenges such as increased cognitive demands and the added effort required by faculty to foster engagement were also identified. online doctoral education advanced during the pandemic due to pedagogical changes, including a greater focus on self-directed learning and the use of digital tools. However, challenges emerged, such as higher cognitive demands and the increased effort required to facilitate interaction.
Keywords: Online Learning, Doctoral education, COVID-19, higher education, qualitative research 2
Received: 08 Jan 2025; Accepted: 24 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Welmer, Asaba, Brodin and Swärdh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Anna-Karin Welmer, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet (KI), Huddinge, Sweden
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.