Students’ sense of being there and their willingness to engage in a distance learning community

Knowing the students’ attitudes and willingness to be engaged in distance learning can provide guidance and recommendations for institutions that are considering expanding the use of distance learning formats. It involves conscious effort for distant learners, and it must be integrated into the course design and reinforced through interactions between students and teachers. This article describes the students’ sense during teaching and learning process in distance learning. Employing a descriptive qualitative design, this study involved three students in PIAUD and English department major as the participants. The results of this study showed that in both two majors, students’ sense and engagement of being there in distance learning were based on teachers’ creativity, time management, and students’ motivation to actively participate during the teaching and learning process. Some recommendations are suggested to support the idea of including distance learning as part of the educational plan based on the analysis of students' responses and the literature review.