Teachers Perceptions of Student Engagement in Virtual Settings

RUNNING HEAD: What Do Teachers Say About Online Math Instruction?
Dill & Foley 1
Teachers’ Perceptions of Student Engagement in Mathematics in Grades 4–8 Online Settings
Christiana J. Dill and Gregory D. Foley
Patton College of Education
Ohio University
What Do Teachers Say About Online Math Instruction? Dill & Foley 2
Abstract
Through this research, we sought to understand how teachers in Grades 4–8 view student
engagement with mathematical tasks in virtual or remote instructional environments, mostly
forced upon them due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The project combines three elements: (a)
student engagement in mathematics, (b) middle childhood student engagement, and (c) online
student engagement. This research also addressed what strategies teachers implemented, the
challenges they faced, and related factors, such as parental involvement. The aim of the research
was to provide practical advice for teachers to use to engage their students in mathematics when
teaching in online settings.
Key words: Student engagement; Online instruction; Student inquiry; Middle childhood;
Mathematics education
Teachers’ Perceptions of Student Engagement in Mathematics in Grades 4–8 Online Settings
One of the main things is to be just flexible. Go into it having a positive attitude.
No matter what technological skills you have, don’t get stuck in one way. Be
willing to learn other avenues. Have high expectations when you go into it, for the
kids, and believe they can do this, and we’re working through this together. Get
through with what you can; do what you can do; and then have hopes of coming
back in person and working on it again together.
Lauren (fourth-grade teacher-participant)
In March of 2020, the coronavirus pandemic forced most teachers in the United States to
move their classes from an in-person to an online setting. For many teachers, this was their first
time teaching virtually, and most struggled to keep their students focused and motivated to
continue their schoolwork online while overcoming technical difficulties. Meaningful,
productive student engagement is difficult for teachers to maintain in a face-to-face classroom
and even harder online, when faced, for example, with distractions in the students’ homes.
Moreover, students may believe they are less accountable for participating in class and may mute
their microphones and turn off their cameras, making it arduous for teachers to know whether
students are on task.
At the start of the 2020–2021 academic year, many teachers still had a virtual classroom
or a significant online component. The teachers who participated in the study were in online
format or had an online component for at least 3 months. This gave them some insight as to what
instructional strategies and other practices they used in their classrooms that have worked to keep
their students engaged in the content or did not work well. Louwrens and Hartnett (2015) and
Fredricks et al. (2004) described student engagement as multifaceted with three components,
which are behavioral, cognitive, and emotional engagement. All three categories are affected by
transitioning to a different modality of learning and so all are examined through how each of the
participants themselves define engagement and what the participants took as evidence of
engagement from their students.
While online education for primary and secondary education is becoming more prevalent
(even before the pandemic), most of the research for it seems to be focused on the college level.
Some of these practices can be adapted to fit the needs of elementary, middle, and high school
teachers, but not all because these students will need more guidance with the tools and learning
the content more independently than if they were in person. Student engagement is vital for
students to perform well no matter the setting. Several teachers are just unsure of what that looks
like or how to implement strategies for a virtual classroom. The more research that is done about
any aspect of online education means that teachers will be more prepared if they have to switch
to a virtual setting from a pandemic (as was the case when this research study took place),
include more technology components in a face-to-face classroom, become a teacher for a virtual
academy, or another unforeseen circumstance that pushes educators to teach remotely.
Remote learning especially using technological tools to mimic an in-person classroom
presents unique challenges in finding ways to adapt direct instruction, group work, and
independent work in ways that keeps students’ attention throughout the lesson. Some students
saw this as an exciting new adventure where they can learn in a more comfortable environment
while others found it a distracting and stressful situation. Many teachers had at least a couple of
students who saw this as an opportunity not to put in as much effort in their educational
responsibilities as their teachers, guidance counselors, and principals were out of physical reach
and punishments such as detention, suspension, and expulsion were not possible during the
pandemic.
These are just some of the challenges that teachers experienced that are explored. Some
of these struggles were met with satisfactory solutions while other complications seemed harder
to resolve. Even those that defy easy solutions are talked about in hopes of preparing educators
for what they might face and to give them extra time to think about how other educators might
want to deal with issues if they were to arise. This research will help to gather and organize these
practices and solutions so that they are accessible to other middle childhood math teachers who
are teaching online in some capacity. When teachers take advantage of the advice that this article
will offer, they will be able to provide a more productive and enjoyable learning environment
that will inspire students to use math and make it a part of their everyday lives. Findings from
this project can be added to the growing body of knowledge about student engagement.
Using online learning platforms such as Google Classroom and Canvas and online
meeting services such as Google Meets, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams has changed how teachers
work with their students remotely. Distance education as defined by Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development is “education that uses one or more technologies to deliver
instruction to students who are separated from the instructor and to support regular and
substantive interaction between the students and the instructor synchronously or
asynchronously.”(2021) The difference between remote and distance education is that remote
doesn’t necessarily mean that technology is regularly used and paper packets and other materials
can be sent home to help continue students’ education when not in the classroom. This research
focuses mostly on distance education and how teachers have engaged students through
technology, but many teachers detailed how they also sent items home so the students could
avoid spending too much time staring directly at the screen.
For the purpose of this paper, synchronous components of the classroom will be defined
as time when the teacher and students are on a virtual meeting platform such as Zoom or Google
Classroom for direct instruction, class discussion, group work, or individual work. Asynchronous
components are when students are working on any of their schoolwork where no virtual meeting
is open, and the teacher is not present.
Participants were drawn from multiple districts that were diverse from each other and
multiple grade levels. Teachers who were interviewed had different outlooks and experiences
teaching virtually. This was to achieve a more comprehensive view as to the wide array of
feelings that educators have toward this type of education that is novel for the primary and
secondary education age groups. This research does not include how students’ perceived
engagement was related to achievement or include specific determinations if students were
engaged when learning online. This research instead focuses on how teachers kept their students
on-task and interested and what indicators they used to inform them as to whether they thought
their students were invested in learning.
Literature Review
This thesis project will add to a limited area of research by combining three elements: (a)
general student engagement in mathematics classes, (b) middle childhood student engagement,
and (c) online engagement. In the past, scholars have usually combined only two out of the three
elements. There is some research that focuses on all three of these elements, but there is a need to
extend the knowledge on this subject due to the ever-increasing use of online formats for K-12
education. While all content areas are important, engagement in math is particularly important
because math is usually stigmatized as too boring or difficult because it can seem abstract.
Therefore, it is vital to learn how to keep young adolescents invested in math inside the learning
environment to prevent future achievement problems or dropping out of school.
Mathematical Student Engagement
Using Fredricks’ model of engagement framework (Fredricks et al., 2004), Skilling was
able to define different practices that promoted and hindered student engagement in mathematics
for middle childhood students. She addressed the three types of engagement: social, cognitive,
and emotional, and determined that students are most engaged when the relevance of the material
was explained, educators made connections and showed applications of mathematics, they
focused on interpersonal relationships, and provided opportunities for autonomy and choice
(2014). Bobis et al. (2016) studied the ways in which a select group of teachers in Australia
perceived student engagement in middle school mathematics and then revisited their perceptions
after they went through an intervention program to help them understand student engagement
more in depth. It intriguingly explores how teachers’ own beliefs about the importance of both
the content and keeping students invested in mathematics can affect a classroom. One point that
was made that aligns with the findings below was to question the idea that intelligence for
students is fixed and that whether students engage or learn is beyond their control.
Online Student Engagement
Louwrens and Hartnett were able to focus on what aspects of a virtual learning
environment helped to promote and address all three major types of engagement. They found
that teachers should emphasize using tools outside of the platform or learning management
system (LMS) schools are using to foster student engagement because this allows more choice
and autonomy especially with how students can choose to present what they have learned (i.e.,
whether they want to create a Prezi, PowerPoint, or some other way). They emphasized the
importance of peer interaction to build social presence as an important aspect of fostering
engagement in an online classroom to address the emotional component. They stress using peer
and teacher feedback often to help develop cognitive engagement so that students are motivated
to work beyond the requirements (2015).
Traynor-Nielson (2017) discussed how students felt they gained a better and more
rigorous experience with the synchronous components in an online undergraduate course for
education majors. She compares different elements of online and in-person interactions
identifying that online encourages more equal participation and exploration in a discussion and is
more permanent either because the lesson can be recorded, or it can happen over chat where the
answers can be saved. She introduces practices that teachers should apply when they are moving
to a virtual classroom such as becoming knowledgeable about the platform being used and
creating structure and guidelines that are easy to understand and follow.
The OECD (2021) analyzed the affect the pandemic had on education in many countries
around the world. The results show that each district within each country handled this situation
differently to educate children safely. Many similar statements and findings aligned with what
the participants interviewed found such as the struggle to accommodate this new type of learning
and the importance of parental involvement when children are learning remotely. This study was
much broader (in both who and what was studied), more quantitative, and not specifically
focused on engagement. According to the OECD, “Taking stock of lessons learned during the
pandemic will be key for countries to strengthen the resilience of their education systems.
Moving beyond the pandemic, it will be important to continue monitoring how distance-learning
solutions are addressing the needs of different students and expand their opportunities for quality
learning” (p. 4).
Middle Childhood Math Online Student Engagement
Mulqueeny et al. (2015) understand the importance and relevance of understanding
student engagement using online components. They studied a blended learning platform called
Genie 3 and compared it to previous versions and to the traditional classroom. The program had
a virtual teacher and simulated peer students so that the online student could evaluate the
“peers’” work and would model positive attitudes toward math. Mulqueeny et al. provides a
different way of looking at behavioral engagement by separating it into academic and social
realms where academic is if they are on task while social is about if they are following the rules.
They found that engagement was higher using these systems than traditional classrooms
measuring aspects such as if they were on-task, “gaming the system” or trying to move through
the levels without learning, concentrating, or being interested.
Lim et al. (2018) suggests creating untimed mathematical problems because the results of
their study of high schoolers completing precalculus problems asynchronously indicated that
there was a 5-min tipping scale on whether students achieved the correct answer on each
question. They found that “(1) students do better with more time on problems, (2) web-based
search skills are an important element of online learning skills, (3) an extensive and balanced use
of online learning tools need to be considered, and (4) those who are persistent and motivated are
more successful than those who are not.” (p. 7)
Conceptual Framework
Fredricks et al. (2004) types of engagement framework states that student engagement is
malleable and a multidimensional construct. Using it allows us to define what each type of
engagement is and what it looks like in terms of the learning environment. Fredricks equates
engagement throughout the article with terms such as commitment, participation, investment,
and willingness to exert effort. According to Fredricks et al., student engagement can be
compartmentalized into three categories which are behavioral, emotional, and cognitive that have
their own distinct characteristics but still overlap to some degree. Behavioral engagement is
focused on student participation and following the rules, while emotional is about the
relationships the students have in the school and the feelings they experience at school such as
interest, happiness, or anxiety. Cognitive engagement is about the psychological investment
students make in learning the material and whether they are willing to challenge themselves
beyond what was just asked of them.
They discuss ways of measuring each of these types of engagement and the impacts
engagement can have including achievement and prevention of dropping out. Each type of
engagement has different levels that are defined by intensity and duration. They review the
school-level and classroom influences on engagement such as autonomy, challenging work,
classroom and school-wide policies. This would be useful in understanding how teachers are
connecting and engaging with students in each category to promote a meaningful learning
environment. The Fredricks et al. research seems to combine some of what is known about
student engagement while calling attention to all of the gaps in this literature about how the three
categories of engagement interact and influence each other and how they affect each student
differently.
Method
Study Location and Participants

Subjects included middle childhood math teachers within three school districts in the
Southeast Ohio region. These educators teach from fourth to eighth grade and have taught in an
online format or have had a hybrid classroom. By the time data was collected, the middle
childhood teachers that participated in the study were in an online format for at least three
months. This allowed them to identify critical components of a virtual setting that promote or
hinder student engagement in mathematics.
Table 1
Description of the Study Participants in Chronological Order
Pseudonym Brief Description
Sandra • Teaches seventh grade

• Fully online except for 3–4 hours in person if needed
• Oversees other teachers
Tammy • Teaches seventh grade

• Normally in-person
• Taught completely virtual and hybrid
Lauren • Teaches fourth grade

• Taught completely virtual and hybrid
Mary • Teaches seventh grade

• Taught completely virtual and simultaneously in-person and virtual
John • Teaches fifth grade

Allison • Teaches fifth grade

• Taught completely virtual, hybrid, and simultaneously in-person and
virtual
Nick • Teaches seventh and eighth grade

• Is a Title 1 Math teacher for at least two other teachers
Matthew • Teaches fourth grade

• Taught completely virtual, hybrid, and simultaneously in-person and
virtual
Interviews
Data was collected through interviews. Eight participants were interviewed twice each for
a total of 16 interviews. The interviews were semi-structured to allow for follow-up questions
based on participant’s responses. This qualitative approach of conducting interviews is supported
by Fredricks’et al. research that encourages methods that provide deeper contextual evidence and
details about how classroom environments affect student engagement. Due to safety concerns
because of the pandemic, interviews occurred virtually over Microsoft TEAMs or Zoom. The
reason that two interviews were done with each participant is so that rapport could be
established, and a general understanding of classroom structure could be formed in the first
interview. Information could be gathered in the second interview about the teachers’ experiences
and their general views on engagement on a deeper level. The general interview protocols for
both of the interviews are in the Appendix.
Conclusions and Discussion
What Do They Mean by Engagement?
Student engagement can be a broad, unclear category that can vary in meaning depending
on what someone is teaching. While participants were asked how they kept students engaged, it
was also important to understand what they personally considered student engagement to be.
Most cited how they look for participation on a daily basis, but then look for some form of
cognitive growth after a portion of content or a skill is taught. Allison described how a student is
engaged when they feel safe enough to take positive risks in the classroom such as attempting to
answer a question even when they are not sure the answer is correct. Matthew expressed this idea
as well and the importance of having them work actively with each other to be engaged stating,
But the engagement piece is they’re interacting with their peers, and not just sitting there
listening, they might be leading the conversation, they’re an active participant in the
conversation, they’re sharing their ideas. We watch a video called Math Stands for
Mistakes Allow Thinking to Happen, right. So, to that engagement, like you don’t know,
if you’re making mistakes, or building the community where it’s safe to make mistakes,
to allow growth to happen.
Matthew (fourth-grade teacher-participant)
This peer interaction was brought up by multiple participants in the way students engage with
academic content and provide evidence that they are invested. Some participants explained how
the use of manipulatives to convey their knowledge or by writing a step-by-step process is
especially important in engaging students in math. Nick noticed how his definition of student
engagement had not changed even if what he took as evidence of engagement adapted to fit the
circumstances.
In-Person Engagement Strategies
All teachers have different strategies that they use to engage students or measure student
engagement. Nick spoke of how teachers have to “entertain” students in order to compete for
students’ attention. In a physical classroom where students and teachers are face-to-face, some
prominent approaches that the interviewed teachers used were hands-on activities (such as using
various manipulatives), reward days with games such as “Fun Fridays,” or the warning to spend
recess or lunch in the classroom to finish work. Nearly all of the teachers mentioned that they
look to body language to distinguish if a student is behaviorally engaged and listen to student
discussions to see if they are cognitively engaged. Mary described the cues that she looks for, “I
look at their body language, their facial expressions, just gestures in general. Walking around
observing, interviewing, work they have done. I often call them up to the smartboard and have
them explain to their peers, walk us through. There’s multiple [ways], that’s easy.” (seventh-
grade teacher-participant) Mary knows that in a face-to-face classroom that students are engaged
emotionally because they are working with their friends in a smaller, rural school that creates a
close-knit feeling throughout the entire school.
Some participants discussed how they differentiate instruction to make sure that as many
students as possible are engaged at some point in the lesson so that every student has a way of
connecting with the content. Tammy and Mary both favored a common model of teaching called
“I do, We do, You do” where students can learn the material and how to solve problems
independently. Mary pointed out that by offering a pre-assessment and progress monitoring,
teachers can create slightly differentiated pathways that challenge most students without
discouraging them. Most of the participants used small collaborative groups to increase
engagement.
Barriers to Student Engagement
Educators must overcome difficulties in the physical classroom such as lack of prior
knowledge or retention of material. Students are all on different levels in learning and some
become discouraged when they don’t excel in the classroom early-on. This makes them
unenthusiastic about participating in class and teachers lose their students’ focus. This is why
multiple participants used a warm-up activity known as “10-minute math” or “math minutes” to
review previously learned skills or to introduce new topics in a quick activity that takes under
10–15 min. These activities would give a way for students to actively participate and helps bring
everyone to the same level and to keep content and skills fresh in students’ minds. Matt felt that
increasing the ratio of students to teachers was becoming a limitation as students are not getting
the individual time they need to succeed to the best of their abilities, and it also means that
teachers are having an even harder time juggling all the different levels of understanding with the
material that students are on.
The other barrier that was mentioned across the board was students’ fixed mindsets.
Many students come into the classroom claiming already that they are “not good at math” and
therefore it would be pointless to expend effort in a math class. This is sometimes innocently
compounded by family members who express how much they disliked math at the middle or
high school level. Tammy expressed after talking about this particular hurdle that she wishes “If
they[students] would just understand that 97% of the class is in the same boat that they’re in, I
feel like they would feel freer to ask questions or to say, I don’t get this or to try. But I feel like
sometimes they don’t even try because they feel like they’re the only ones in this position.”
(seventh-grade teacher-participant) John perceived how some students won’t accept help from
tools such as multiplication charts because they fear being judged by their classmates. There
were many other important impediments that were brought up including lack of vocabulary,
interest, support at home, diverse teaching styles, and trust between students and teacher. These
obstacles mean that some students may be “left behind” in terms of the material which could
contribute to fixed mindsets later on and to becoming indifferent to learning math.
Online Engagement Strategies
The participants overall seemed to rank in-person instruction the best, then online,
hybrid, and finally teaching online while having an online meeting occur simultaneously as the
most difficult method. If educators are either online or in-person, they can set up their lessons
and tools to fit that environment, but it is extremely demanding if they are working with both.
With hybrid and simultaneous teaching, some participants felt that there were a lot of unrealistic
expectations when dealing with both modalities. Tammy emphasized in the end that with virtual
education, especially when it is unfamiliar to you, it is all about the small victories.
Teachers found ways to adapt their strategies mainly by asking more questions online
than in-person, using whiteboards, or using the chat function as a way to reach out to students
who would be uncomfortable answering in front of the whole class. The combination of both
would allow time to hear from each student or each group of students depending on the
activities. John found that because it was harder to tell if students were engaged, some of his
students would be even more willing to present their work to prove they were focused.
Many of the teachers interviewed noticed that students reached out to teachers during
their “office hours” to just have a conversation allowing teachers to bond with students in a way
they maybe haven’t before. Allison and Matthew specified how they used breakout rooms to
increase engagement because it allowed students to work together, to interact with the material,
and gave them a chance to socialize with each other. Students would mainly stay on-task because
the teacher could visit breakout rooms at any time. Lauren focused on emotional and behavioral
engagement knowing that building a foundation of positive expectations would motivate her
students to have sustained cognitive engagement versus just completing a task to get the
minimum grade desired. Lauren set up a reward system based on points earned through positive
behavior to encourage her students. They would earn a gift card if enough points were received.
Matthew’s class addressed emotional engagement through the use of morning meetings (that
were district-wide), “lunch bunch” online meetings, and through asking discussion questions on
Mondays which were asynchronous. All of these additions helped to build connections between
students and create a community atmosphere.
Teachers knew they were asking a great deal from students to spend a substantial amount
of time online every weekday just for educational purposes. This is why all the educators studied
provided packets for students that offered supplies and manipulatives that allowed them to work
with resources outside their computers such as blocks to work on fractions, everyday math items
such as a ruler, worksheets, and even school supplies such as pencils. Tools provided were ones
students would normally have access to in a face-to-face classroom that help make mathematical
concepts easier to understand by making them more concrete.
Challenges of online school
There are numerous challenges that a teacher may face online in keeping students
invested in doing the work and making sure that students are participating. Even concerns that
don’t have a solution yet are articulated in hopes to prepare educators for what they might face
and to give them extra time to think about how they might want to deal with issues if they arise.
Most teachers cited body language, verbal, and other nonverbal signals as ways to track
engagement which some participants said was more difficult to see on a tiny screen and therefore
hard to judge how much students were listening and understanding. This was if students’
cameras were even on. John commented that students would be open about their dislike of virtual
learning and how profoundly they struggled with it. Nick expressed how “there is nothing that
replaces that personal connection, in-person academic achievement, and socialization aspects
that are essential for middle schoolers” when in an in-person learning environment (Title 1 math
teacher-participant).
Educators discussed how many students would pretend to take notes making it hard for
them to retain or review material learned. Another major problem was that it was difficult and
time-consuming to monitor progress with work assigned synchronously or asynchronously and
offer specific feedback in a timely manner to students. There was a lack of immediate support
that students have in a classroom meaning frustrations were higher on the students’ end.
It was a time-consuming task to create breakout rooms so students could work in groups,
so strategies used for informal group activities were not used. Work that was shown or submitted
may have been blurry or hard to read. It was submitted in many different ways making it more
accessible to every student but was difficult for teachers to have to track down all of the
assignments. To hold students extra accountable, Tammy stated how she felt she had to give
more graded assignments while Nick said that grading was the hardest challenge in switching to
a virtual format.
Many teachers cited frustrations with chronic absences with a handful of students and
many had students who struggled with massive incomplete work throughout the year. It was
difficult as some felt that the students’ grades were the only way to motivate them and for
several students that was not enough of an incentive to complete work in the distracting
environment of their homes. Fredricks et al. (2004) asserts that this is a specific sign of behavior
disengagement when students disobey rules and don’t complete their work. Another sign of this
type of disengagement is when students do not persist when faced with challenges and don’t
participate such as asking questions. John describes a sense of emotional disengagement in
moving to an online learning environment and how there were many positive personality shifts
when his students came back into an in-person classroom,

You had others that would just kind of sit there with like my wife calls the "dead
fisheyes" just stares at you. No questions, you know. So, I could see where some
of the kids it wasn’t a good situation for them. They really needed to be in the
building… the one girl that started back just a few weeks ago, and big difference,
she would you would think she was sleeping with her eyes open. I mean, she just
wouldn’t move, wouldn’t take part. When she’s in class here, she’s just a ball of
energy. So, I don’t know what the difference was. She didn’t like doing it on a
computer. I guess. She really needed to be here. And I’m glad she’s back.
(fifth-grade teacher-participant)
Students struggled with many different distractions whether it was something playing on
another device in the room or other siblings in the house. This forced students to either move
around to different parts of the house on a daily basis, stay in an odd location in the house to
work peacefully such as the bathroom, or work with these distractions in the background. John
found that his students were many times expected to help their younger siblings with navigating
this new environment while receiving the least amount of support themselves because they were
seen as more capable of handling this new learning situation. This pushed some students to
become advocates of their academic needs. Mary and Nick both stressed the burden attendance
became in an online environment due to the fact that students would pop out and then back in
later making it impossible to keep track. Quite a few of the participants found that their students
became more passive in their learning and would lie about internet problems to avoid coming to
class or working on assignments.
Benefits of online school

There were silver linings that were discovered by the participants as it presented some
opportunities for teachers to explore how to lower barriers or make it easier to connect with
students. A few teachers in this study considered how they have been able to grow close with the
students as they get to see more of their world outside of their school including what their home
is like, what their family is like, and what pets they have as a significant bonus. Many
participants created videos ranging in purposes from just explaining and showing students how
to do their asynchronous work to record lessons so students could review the lessons as many
times as they would like. Allison pointed out how many students gained organizational skills and
took on a greater role of self-responsibility as they had to keep track of their own supplies and
maintain their workspace.
Matthew and Sandra pointed out how it was beneficial for students who have social
anxiety or who liked to move when they work either to walk around the room or to shut off their
screens to make themselves feel more comfortable without disturbing the other students’ work.
Some teachers spoke about how they could create breakout rooms on Zoom or during Google
Meets, and when they visited these breakout rooms, they were able to focus more on these small
groups of students than they normally would in an in-person classroom when working in groups.
This is because they are not distracted by all that is going on in the other groups and could give
their undivided attention to the students in that breakout room.
Various participants were grateful for the flexibility that being online provided for them
as some districts built in time for students to work asynchronously allowing teachers to be
available for individual help (either by the student reaching out or the teacher reaching out to a
particular student). Giving out hotspots for students to be able to work from also benefited
families and the community as it allowed some of the students’ parents to work from home when
they did not have that option before. They could assist their child if there was a problem with
technology or with understanding the work. Sandra, who taught online before the pandemic and
will continue to teach online, appreciates how the program they use allows students to have an
individualized education plan that means that each student can work at their own pace and focus
on what they truly struggle with.
For those who like the idea of teaching online full-time, Sandra had many positive things
to say about why she preferred teaching virtually. Sandra commented that
Benefit wise, for some students with high anxiety or medical conditions, it still allows
them to get a public-school education. And then we have some students who travel so it
gives them that flexibility to be able to complete their schooling, and yet still go to the
places they need to go. And our students, unlike, unlike other online schools, our students
have 24 hours a day, seven days a week to work. So they’re not confined to you know,
seven to two or eight to three or whatever. They can get on and work whenever they
want.
(seventh-grade teacher participant)
She is able to help more students individually and can act as more of a facilitator to
students’ learning with flexibility that the online program allows. Sandra’s online school has the
policy that students who are not completing their online work at an acceptable standard are
required to come in-person for a few hours to complete any missing work. This is for students
who have internet issues at home, need a teacher’s assistance, or need help holding them
accountable. If there is a continuous pattern of incomplete work, then they can be transferred to
in-person instruction.
Main Tools and Resources Used

Teachers met with their students through either Zoom or Google Meet to either have
virtual classes or to meet with students during asynchronous work to provide more one-on-one
help. One function they all found particularly useful is the fact that they could “share” their
screen or show other students what was on their screen. This means that teachers had the ability
to show students how to navigate a website or tool step-by-step or teachers could let students
share their screen and they could help them navigate the tool themselves just as if they were
looking over their shoulder at the screen. Various educators included virtual math programs and
tools to engage students, such as Investigations and programs through Pearson Education, Inc.,
for number talks, and Moby Max as a website that has interactive mathematical games.
Two other online tools that were used by multiple participants were Kami and Flipgrid.
Kami is a program that allows students to write, type, and use many other tools to adapt a file
over a scanned online PDF. This can simulate working on a worksheet in the classroom as
educators can see students edit the document as they are writing on it meaning that they can
provide more timely feedback and can hold students accountable if they see that students have
not accessed the document at all. Flipgrid was another tool that teachers used to help see students
work, but this was a video recording app. Students could take a short video of themselves
explaining their work. This website allowed teachers to get individual and detailed evaluations
from every student beyond what was just written. Allison was fond of this app as she illustrates
with this one example of an English language learner (ELL) using this app,
No, I especially had a student last in the spring. Who was ELL, and in class, I could not
get her to say 10 words, like I think the entire year. Well, when we went into the
pandemic, and we started using Flipgrid and stuff where I think she could practice her
English before she said things, she was the most adorable thing I’d ever seen presenting
stuff on Flipgrid. Like, I couldn’t believe all the English she had. And I was like, man, if
I had known this, we should have been using Flipgrid all year, because I think where she
could practice her responses. She felt really comfortable, you know, sharing and so, I
think for some kids, you know, having the control to like, record again, with some things
with technology actually makes them a little more comfortable. Which I would have
never guessed.
(fifth-grade teacher-participant)
Transferable Engagement Strategies
Many engagement strategies that teachers would use in the classroom are transferrable on
some level into the online learning environment. These strategies include asking questions and
giving problems that are “low floor and high ceiling” or questions that everyone can answer on
some level while still allowing for elaboration. Lauren enjoys giving students tiny “brain breaks”
throughout the lesson through physical movement such as getting up and stretching or having
little dance parties. Many participants looked for nonverbal cues, as long as students’ cameras
are on, which was their main strategy in determining if a student is engaged. Another strategy
used was to encourage students to keep pushing themselves by giving them short-term goals. An
example that Mary provided was that many of her seventh graders would be motivated to work
hard in her class because they had the option to take a high school Algebra course in the eighth
grade. This would then free up their high school schedule allowing them to take an extra-
curricular class that they would otherwise not be able to take or to advance quicker through some
of the core classes.
Whether in-person or online, it is difficult to stay focused on one particular topic for a
lengthy period of time with students. This is why Matthew not only delivers a lesson through
lecture, but also includes times for students to interact with the content and each other through
games, many who are inspired by works of education researcher Marilyn Burns, and activities
such as 10-min math. However, you decide to keep students engaged should reflect what your
students feel as a whole class and individually if you can, whether they are more reserved or
outgoing. Or as Nick stated, “And it just depends, you’ll find year to year, every class has their
own makeup or feeling. And I would describe it like this, if you’ve had a pet, you know how like
every pet has its own personality, I feel that every class has its own personality, year to year.
And you get a feel for that. And you kind of adjust what you do, according to what they need.”
Types of Students Who Are Successful
Many teachers had a similar outlook that it takes a special kind of student to be able to
learn virtually and this is especially true for self-paced classrooms where there is little time with
instructor-led teaching or discussion. Intrinsic motivation, values of education in the household,
and positive experiences with individual academic success were all characteristics described as
needed to be successful online. Another way to define this is a student must have a strong
emotional and cognitive commitment to this type of learning where they have the interest in the
subjects being studied and have a solid psychological control process that can help students to
continue to work even when facing numerous distractions in their environment such as working
from their home.
Lauren believes that by having more synchronous meetings where there is more
interaction and discussion for a student, both with the teacher and their peers, class can be more
open and accessible to those who do not yet have the ability to overcome the temptations of
distractions and are not invested in doing the work independently. This can aid students who are
still developing metacognitive skills in learning how to plan and monitor their academic work
that is usually done by an instructor for this age group. Sandra, who monitors her online
students’ progress, still makes sure that her students are meeting their academic goals just like in
a face-to-face classroom while still satisfying her students’ needs for autonomy.
Importance of Support: Especially by a Parent
It is difficult to judge how much to involve parents because students in young
adolescence are encouraged to be more independent in their learning, but the participants
discovered that parents can greatly improve the virtual learning environment. Parents can serve
as a support by holding students accountable for coming to meetings and completing their work,
by either supervising them, or by acting when the teacher notifies a parent that students are not
meeting their expectations. Anyone in the environment where the student is working remotely is
responsible to create a calm workspace. Parents need to communicate the importance of
education at every level so that their children will persist even when facing new experiences.
Lauren mentioned how some parents were reluctant or afraid to help because they were
unsure of what the student was supposed to be doing or of teaching them the “wrong” way. She
noticed that many did not have the technology background necessary to help their students with
virtual learning, leaving the student either to do it on their own or to wait for the teacher’s
assistance. She encouraged students to reteach what they have learned to parents to overcome
this barrier or urged parents to watch one of the videos she had made for students. Many
participants had just a few parents who were hard to reach and have reliable communication
when problems would arise. Keeping the communication strategies and times consistent was key
for Allison in order to have an effective reciprocal relationship.
A direct way to contact parents and a mutual level of trust is important between parents
and teachers so that pointing the finger at each other is avoided. Educators mainly used email to
contact parents, but apps, such as Bloom and Plato, were also used. Matthew even gave out his
cell phone number that made informal or last-minute updates more probable to allow time for
him to make adaptations to the lesson. Creating different pathways for communication means
that parents can find one that is comfortable for them and is important to increase a community
feeling between the teacher, students, and parents. Matthew commented on how some parents
and other family members took the initiative to learn with their children stating,
You know, I’m now building relationships and teaching parents at the same time or
grandparents at the same time, right. Well, so many parents and grandparents, because
they’re hearing me do it, and they’re watching the screen, or they’re [students] saying,
hey, Mr. Hall-Jones, can I go get my parents so they can watch you do this? So instead of
having 25 kids in the room, I’ve got 50 kids in the room because half of them have one or
two parents with them, right? But they’re seeing it as I’m teaching it. So, it doesn’t have
to be the kid explaining it to home. That’s all communication that has improved, right?
But then you’ll hear grandparents and parents, like, this makes so much more sense. I
wish I would have been taught it this way.
(fourth-grade teacher-participant)
John also noticed that he had some additional “students,” but found it was usually siblings or
grandparents who would step in which made a huge difference just to have that little bit of
support.
Implications
As the OCED (2021) states:
Already today, digital learning systems cannot just teach students, but simultaneously
observe how students study, the kind of tasks and thinking that interest them, and the
kind of problems they find boring or difficult. These systems can then adapt learning to
suit personal learning styles with far greater granularity and precision than any traditional
classroom setting possibly can. Similarly, virtual laboratories give students an
opportunity to design, conduct and learn from experiments, rather than just learning about
them.
Debate: Cameras on a Must?
With the novelty of learning remotely came the debate about whether students should be
required to keep their cameras on throughout an online meeting. All teachers encouraged it as
several acknowledged that it is extremely hard to teach to “a bunch of little black boxes” as
opposed to seeing students’ faces. It ranged in how much it was encouraged or enforced and how
it was encouraged. Some did not require their students’ cameras to be on citing that it would
raise some students’ social anxiety as they were not comfortable seeing how they look reflected
when they would talk. Others stated reasons such as respecting students’ privacy in not wanting
their teacher and peers to see what their home looked like or what may be going on in the
background that was out of their control. Those who didn’t require that cameras remain on
adapted by asking them to participate in other ways such as through unmuting themselves,
reaching out through the chat function, or meeting individually with the teacher outside of class.
One teacher explained that he couldn’t require students to keep their cameras on due to the fact
that many would have internet or bandwidth problems that would make it hard, if not impossible,
for students to keep their cameras on and stay in the meeting.
Those who did require students to have their cameras on for their online classrooms tried
to avoid these issues above relating to social anxiety and their background by either teaching
students explicitly how to change their background so that only the student was visible or gave
the option that the students could point the computer camera up as long as at least their forehead
was visible. These teachers were convinced that body language was vital in understanding if a
student is grasping the material, if they are on task, and to reassure the teacher that they are
actually behind the computer screen for insisting students keep their cameras on. One school
offered extra credit to encourage students to have their cameras on throughout the entire meeting
but found that this incentive only worked for a short period of time and felt that an incentive
outside of grades may have worked better.
Participants’ Technology Plans in the Future
Each of the participants, even those who did not approve of online learning for most
students, was able to take something from this experience that they will use in their future
classroom. Their students are now familiar with working from a central online learning platform
that many will now use as a main navigation resource. This will help to provide links to different
websites that they want to use and to post missing work for when students are absent. Allison
especially approves of a learning management site called Canvas that provides a read-aloud
application that students can use. Some have even said that they may continue to stream their
classes from an online platform such as Google Classroom with the camera only pointed at the
teacher or the board as an option for their students. Tammy is planning to create more videos of
lessons for students that may lead to a more flipped classroom so that students can interact and
ask questions with her and their peers more during class time.
Matthew hopes to do at least one set of parent-teacher conferences online because it may
eliminate obstacles for some parents such as time constraints and transportation. It will allow for
his students to get a glimpse into what his home life is like just as he will with theirs, building a
deeper connection and understanding with his students. He appreciated the asynchronous time
built in for “office hours” or as a time for small groups to meet either for extra help or to further
explore certain topics and wants to have time built-in in the future to provide these services. He
had a special opportunity to pair up with a teacher who was in a different elementary school, but
still in the same district. This allowed their classrooms to bridge gaps between schools and create
friendships that will make transitioning into the middle school much easier.
Allison plans to use some of the resources described in the tools and resources section to
benefit students who are on either ends of the spectrum of whether they are struggling
academically or succeeding which is an opportunity to provide extension activities that push
them. Sandra believes that while enrollment in the online education program will not be as high
as it was during the pandemic, it will still significantly increase. The enrollment size was seven
times higher than the previous year and she expects that in the coming years it may average out
to about half of the number of students taught during the coronavirus pandemic.
Advice for Other Teachers
Technology is becoming a more integral part of the classroom and can be used in many
different ways even if teachers are not that comfortable with using it at the level that educators
had to this year. Lauren expressed that it was good that her students got to see her model
persevering through challenges when struggling to navigate online. Besides what the
schoolteachers who were interviewed plan to do in the future and what benefits they discovered
in teaching virtually, they all had advice for other teachers if they want to include a little more
technology in the classroom or if they plan to teach online as part of their education plan.
Lauren first suggests that it can be beneficial to build a rapport with students first in
person before moving to an online component if you plan to teach or meet online with students.
It can also help to go over different applications and websites in person so that way you can
troubleshoot or take advantage of screen-sharing capabilities on the online streaming service you
are using. She and many others agree that it is important to create an attitude that this is a new
learning curve for all and to be flexible and patient as everyone is figuring it out. Allison
recommends joining social media groups through Facebook or Instagram or watching YouTube
videos as they can give ideas on how to incorporate certain online programs and tools into a
classroom that fits your age group and purposes beyond a general tutorial of the application.
John states that being flexible also applies to how you judge student learning in this new
environment. Teachers need to meet diverse student circumstances in how to receive
assignments, how you keep students accountable informally, and how you communicate with
parents and students. How a student and parent may be able to show and submit work online can
look different such as sending a picture of their work, explaining their work at the end of a
synchronous class meeting, or by using Kami to write virtually on a PDF document. From what
we gather from Fredricks et al. (2004), it seems that being flexible is the balance necessary to
meet students’ needs for some control while still providing the structure that is crucial as
students can have a clear path to their desired outcomes. While it is important to be flexible and
to allow grace, Tammy warns that
there’s a difference between giving you grace because you’re struggling to learn online
and giving you grace because you’re just refusing to do any work at all. You know, you
got to find a happy medium, you got to find a line in there. And I feel like the more we
give them too much grace is the more I feel like we’re just enabling them to not do
anything…but I think that’s been a key for teachers to find that middle line of how much
grace do I extend you? And at what point do I cut that off and hold you accountable?
There’s a difference between grace and holding you accountable.

(seventh-grade teacher-participant)
Each teacher may have a unique view of where that middle line lies, but it is important to
think about that in advance and explain those expectations early in the school year. Allison
advises that setting expectations for any type of new situation in the classroom is vital in
preventing confusion and misbehaviors as students will know the standards that they are
expected to meet. Explain or discuss with students beforehand what a good online class meeting
or breakout room should look and sound like. Nick advocated for including expectations but
appended that these expectations must also make an online learning environment equal to an in-
person learning experience in terms of servicing students’ needs.
Nick reflects that having a clear procedure for students every day was beneficial when
students weren’t sure of what to expect in this new learning environment. Tammy and many
others who had to teach virtually said that they thought it was extremely beneficial to allow time
at some point during the meeting to allow students to purely socialize with each other, especially
if they don’t have that time to talk with each other face-to-face. Matthew suggests that teachers
demonstrate to students how to plan their own online meetings to meet with classmates virtually
and how to navigate different tools on their own.
Tammy made a student account on her learning management system (LMS), and she said
it helped her to prevent confusing students as she was able to see right away if a video,
assignment, or activity she uploaded didn’t work as she expected it to when she posted it. John,
who was not as comfortable working with the students online, often sent packets home and had
them just send in a picture of their work. He said this was beneficial because it was easier for
substitutes to work with as well. Just like some students in a face-to-face class will try to find
loopholes not to do the work, the same is true for virtual instruction and so teachers have to be
vigilant for these excuses and tricks.
References
Artigue, M., & Blomhøj, M. (2013). Conceptualizing inquiry-based education in mathematics.
ZDM: The International Journal on Mathematics Education, 45(5), 797–810.
doi:10.1007/s11858-013-0506-6
Bobis, J., Way, J., Anderson, J., & Martin, A. J. (2016). Challenging teacher beliefs about
student engagement in mathematics. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 19(1),
33–55.
Fredricks, J. A., Blumenfeld, P. C., & Paris, A. H. (2004). School engagement: Potential of the
concept, state of the evidence. Review of Educational Research, 74(1), 59–109.
https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543074001059
Laursen, S. L., & Rasmussen, C. (2019). I on the prize: Inquiry approaches in undergraduate
mathematics. International Journal of Research in Undergraduate Mathematics
Education, 5, 129–146. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40753-019-00085-6
Lim, W., Son, J., Gregson, S., & Kim, J. (2018). An examination of high school students’ online
engagement in mathematics problems. International Journal of Web-Based Learning and
Teaching Technologies, 13(2), 1–15. doi:10.4018/IJWLTT.201804 0101
Louwrens, N., & Hartnett, M. (2015). Student and teacher perceptions of online student
engagement in an online middle school. Journal of Open, Flexible and Distance
Learning, 19(1), 27–44.

Mulqueeny, K., Kostyuk, V., Baker, R. S., & Ocumpaugh, J. (2015). Incorporating effective e-
learning principles to improve student engagement in middle-school mathematics.
International Journal of STEM Education, 2(1), 1–14.
Petty, T., & Farinde, A. (2013). Investigating student engagement in an online mathematics
course through windows into teaching and learning. Journal of Online Learning and
Teaching, 9(2), 261–270.
Skilling, K. (2014). Teacher practices: How they promote or hinder student engagement in
mathematics. In the Proceedings of the Mathematics Education Research Group of
Australasia (pp. 589–596). https://www.merga.net.au/Public/Public/Publications/
Annual_Conference_Proceedings/2014_MERGA_CP.aspx
Traynor-Nilsen, P. (2017). Increasing student engagement in an online setting. Journal of Higher
Education Theory & Practice, 17(2), 54–60.
White, N., Wilson, R. T., & Jones, M. (2020, July). An introduction to (online) inquiry-based
learning [Webinar]. Mathematical Association of America.

Appendix
Interview Questions
Initial Interview
1. How did you keep your students engaged before moving to an online classroom?
a. Behaviorally, emotionally, and cognitively…
2. How have you kept your students engaged in the classroom? What have you changed?
a. Instructional strategies?
b. Classroom management?
c. Extrinsic (reinforcements/punishments) vs intrinsic
d. How do you address motivation, focus, and interest problems?
3. From the above changes, is there anything you will keep when you move back into a
face-to-face class?
4. How has your definition of student engagement changed due to switching to an online
format?
5. How do you build relationships with your students? How do you create a community
feeling in your classroom?
6. Are you including asynchronous components into your classroom? Why or why not?
How are you engaging your students with work outside of the classroom?
7. What do you view as the main obstacles or barriers to engagement in mathematics? (e.g.
poor primary school preparation, curriculum demands, other non-engaged students and
parents who voiced their own dislike of mathematics, low expectations)
a. How do you address these obstacles?
8. How are you helping your students access resources outside of your class?
9. In terms of student engagement, what do you believe is out of your control?
10. Are there ways for students to contact you outside of class?
11. What kinds of after-school activities are students doing? Are any offered through the
school?
Final Interview
1. Do most students complete work on asynchronous days?
a. Do you do anything to encourage or help?
2. What does student engagement mean to you? Is there anything that you would add for
engaging in math content? (What does it look like?) Middle level education? Is this
different online?
3. Why do you believe that students struggle to engage online? Do you think it is any harder
with math than science or any of the other subjects?
4. What do you view as the main obstacles or barriers to engagement in mathematics? (e.g.,
poor primary school preparation, curriculum demands, other non-engaged students and
parents who voiced their own dislike of mathematics, low expectations)
a. How do you address these obstacles?
i. Do you believe technology can help to address any of these obstacles?
6. How would you help other teachers adapt to online learning? What advice would you
offer?
7. What do you think are the benefits of online learning that cannot be experienced in an in-
person classroom?
8. How would you feel if you were asked to teach online full-time?
9. What did a class look like normally? Did you have any routines that you did every day
for math?
a. E.g., warm-ups/bellringers, groupwork, worksheets?...
i. Why did you do this or why not?
10. Do you feel like online learning allows for more differentiated instruction or more
flexibility?
11. Would you have changed how you communicated with parents looking back on what you
have experienced?
12. From this experience of teaching online, is there anything that you will keep doing when
you are fully in-person that you have learned from this experience? What kinds of
technology will you use in the classroom? What did you use before?

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RUNNING HEAD: What Do Teachers Say About Online Math Instruction?

Dill & Foley 1

Teachers’ Perceptions of Student Engagement in Mathematics in Grades 4–8 Online Settings

Christiana J. Dill and Gregory D. Foley

Patton College of Education

engagement with mathematical tasks in virtual or remote instructional environments, mostly

teaching in online settings.

Teachers’ Perceptions of Student Engagement in Mathematics in Grades 4–8 Online Settings

back in person and working on it again together.

Lauren (fourth-grade teacher-participant)

continue their schoolwork online while overcoming technical difficulties. Meaningful,

productive student engagement is difficult for teachers to maintain in a face-to-face classroom

students are on task.

engagement from their students.

academy, or another unforeseen circumstance that pushes educators to teach remotely.

Remote learning especially using technological tools to mimic an in-person classroom

substantive interaction between the students and the instructor synchronously or

avoid spending too much time staring directly at the screen.

is open, and the teacher is not present.

engagement was related to achievement or include specific determinations if students were

their students were invested in learning.

environment to prevent future achievement problems or dropping out of school.

Mathematical Student Engagement

Online Student Engagement

importance of peer interaction to build social presence as an important aspect of fostering

to work beyond the requirements (2015).

learning” (p. 4).

Middle Childhood Math Online Student Engagement

Mulqueeny et al. (2015) understand the importance and relevance of understanding

the levels without learning, concentrating, or being interested.

more successful than those who are not.” (p. 7)

interest, happiness, or anxiety. Cognitive engagement is about the psychological investment

beyond what was just asked of them.

school-level and classroom influences on engagement such as autonomy, challenging work,

Study Location and Participants

hinder student engagement in mathematics.

Description of the Study Participants in Chronological Order

Pseudonym Brief Description

Sandra • Teaches seventh grade

Tammy • Teaches seventh grade

Lauren • Teaches fourth grade

Mary • Teaches seventh grade

John • Teaches fifth grade

Allison • Teaches fifth grade

Nick • Teaches seventh and eighth grade

Matthew • Teaches fourth grade

based on participant’s responses. This qualitative approach of conducting interviews is supported

both of the interviews are in the Appendix.

Conclusions and Discussion

What Do They Mean by Engagement?

to allow growth to happen.

Matthew (fourth-grade teacher-participant)

the use of manipulatives to convey their knowledge or by writing a step-by-step process is

In-Person Engagement Strategies

close-knit feeling throughout the entire school.

Barriers to Student Engagement

material that students are on.

contribute to fixed mindsets later on and to becoming indifferent to learning math.

Online Engagement Strategies

students and create a community atmosphere.

concepts easier to understand by making them more concrete.

Challenges of online school

time-consuming to monitor progress with work assigned synchronously or asynchronously and