When a Reply Isn’t Enough: How Message Type Shapes Student Engagement in Online Learning
Ensuring sustained student participation in online learning remains a persistent challenge. As courses progress, learners often reduce their activity, which can result in lower achievement. To support engagement, researchers and practitioners are increasingly using nudges—short, behaviour-triggered messages delivered via learning platforms. But do these messages work better when students can reply? And does the type of message matter?
These questions were addressed in a recent study by IOE researchers Maxim Boitcov, Anastasiia Kapuza, Hussein Al-Safi, and Nikita Vinogradov from MCU University. The researchers examined two key questions: whether replying to a nudge is associated with subsequent engagement and whether this relationship varies according to the type of message received. Their findings were published in the article 'Left Unread: How Message Orientation Shapes Engagement in Adaptive Nudging Systems'.
The study is based on a four-week intervention involving 144 students, who received adaptive, supportive messages triggered by their activity on the learning management system during an extracurricular, online preparatory course for the Russian Unified State Exam in social studies. The messages varied in orientation. Reinforcing messages acknowledged students’ progress and encouraged continued effort, while concern-oriented messages highlighted declining engagement and offered support. All messages enabled both one-way and two-way communication by allowing students to reply.
Student engagement was measured using the Coefficient of Retention (COR), a longitudinal indicator combining homework completion, webinar participation and platform activity. The results show that replying to messages is not consistently associated with higher engagement once prior activity and performance are taken into account.
The present findings suggest that replying, by itself, does not constitute a reliable indicator of re-engagement.
At the same time, the relationship between replying and engagement varies depending on the type of message received. Replies to reinforcing messages are associated with slightly higher subsequent engagement, suggesting that interaction may reinforce positive learning behaviours. In contrast, replying to concern-oriented messages is associated with lower subsequent engagement than non-response. However, students who did not reply to such messages showed modest increases in engagement, suggesting a possible 'wake-up call' effect.
It highlights that the behavioural meaning of replying depends on both the learner’s engagement state and the communicative context of the message.
The findings suggest that the effect of interactivity in nudging systems is not uniform. Its effectiveness depends on how support is framed, as well as on students’ prior engagement. The study emphasises the importance of aligning message design with learners’ behavioural trajectories within adaptive online learning environments.