Contemplative pedagogy for positive engagement in online teaching and learning in higher education

Abstract

ABSTRACT With the growth of online programs in higher education, students are more likely to experience various barriers and challenges while taking online courses, such as social isolation, low motivation, distraction, and mental health issues. Mindfulness-informed pedagogy, such as contemplative pedagogy, showed its promise in decreasing students’ negative emotions and increasing their self-awareness and concentration on learning environments and materials. However, limited research is available to discuss the integration of contemplative pedagogy to promote student engagement from online course design and delivery perspectives. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to discuss the benefits of contemplative pedagogy and encourage educators’ use of mindfulness-informed teaching practices in online instruction in higher education. Some effective strategies to adopt contemplative pedagogy into online course design and delivery include: the integration of mindfulness exercises, the reduction of cognitive overload, the importance of reflective learning activities, and the inclusion of socially supportive features.