Online education offers flexibility and new opportunities for accessing higher education, but it also raises a fundamental question: how do students actually learn in these environments?
The article “Learning Strategies of Online Engineering Students”, by Joana Villalonga Pons, Mireia Besalú, Anna Samà Camí, and Teresa Sancho-Vinuesa, published in RIED, explores this question through an analysis of the behavior of 340 students enrolled in a preparatory mathematics course for engineering programs at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya.
Using cluster analysis, the authors identify three clearly differentiated student profiles. The largest group consists of efficient students (66%), who achieve good academic results by focusing primarily on assessed activities and practice quizzes, while participating very little in forums or collaborative activities.
A second group, the dedicated students (12%), shows a high level of engagement in both compulsory and voluntary activities, actively participating in forums and mathematical challenges. Finally, passive students (22%) display low levels of participation and achievement, with little meaningful involvement in any of the proposed activities.
The findings highlight that, in online higher education, assessment design plays a decisive role in shaping students’ learning strategies. Most students direct their efforts toward tasks that have a direct impact on their final grade, while voluntary activities tend to attract only a small group of highly committed learners.
The study therefore invites educators to reflect on how to design more inclusive and motivating learning experiences, particularly for passive students, and provides valuable evidence for improving the teaching of mathematics and engineering in digital learning environments.
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How to Cite: Villalonga Pons, J., Besalú, M., Samà Camí, A., & Sancho-Vinuesa, T. (2023). Online Engineering Students’ Learning Strategies. RIED-Revista Iberoamericana de Educación a Distancia, 26(2), 237–256. https://doi.org/10.5944/ried.26.2.36257
