Disconnected in the digital age: Barriers to flow in online learning

Abstract

Disengagement among students learning online in higher education is an enduring challenge that can undermine learning outcomes, retention, and overall satisfaction. While engagement is widely recognized as essential to academic success, the unique conditions of online learning, such as reduced interpersonal interaction, feelings of isolation, and competing external demands, often hinder meaningful participation and enjoyable experiences. Using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, this study applied flow theory (Csikszentmihalyi, 2008) to better understand the experiences of online students and the barriers to achieving an optimal state of learning. Data were collected through written reflections, interviews, and journaling with Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (Smith et al., 2022) used to interpret findings of non-flow. The research highlighted how lack of interest, time, resistance to distractions, and prior experience in education prevents students from experiencing flow. This unique, reflective, and human-sensitive methodology encouraged a richer understanding of non-flow and offered insights into the stimuli and inhibitors to flow. The implications for students and higher education providers are encouraging better awareness of distractions and how to focus attention, as well as the potential for gaining experience in industry to nurture interest and personal connection to learning.