Engagement of Higher Education Students in Live Online Classes: Scale Development and Validation

This study aimed to develop and validate the Live Online Classes Engagement Scale (LOCES) to measure higher education (HE) students' live online classes (LOCs) engagement levels. The scale items were created after reviewing the studies focusing on engagement and those developing engagement scales. For validity and reliability, data were collected from 1039 students (Female = 749, Male = 290) who were receiving distance education via LOCs in 34 different departments of 21 universities in Turkey. As a result of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, a structure with six factors (social, instructional, technological, emotional, behavioral, and withdrawal) and 46 items was obtained. The total variance explained was 63.45%. As a result, the LOCES met the criteria necessary for validity and reliability. In conclusion, the LOCES can be used to measure the engagement levels of HE students in LOCs.