Studies in Educational Management

COVID-19 has been transforming education into technology-based and distance learning mode which requires the changing paradigm about learning delivery in higher education. This article aims to explicate learning engagement of students in higher education during online learning and to verify the impact of collaborative learning and personal perseverance on learning engagement statistically. Which of both two factors is more influential? Is collaborative learning more influential than personal perseverance or vice versa? A survey with causal analysis was applied for supporting arguments of this article. Data collection was conducted by distributing Google Form based questionnaires. It has involved about 642 students from a prominent private higher education institution in Indonesia as the respondents. For testing the twelve hypotheses, this article utilizes SmartPLS version 3.3 as statistical analysis tool. The result reveals that learning engagement that is reflected into cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement is more influenced by collaborative learning rather than personal perseverance. Collaborative learning which is reflected into cognitive skill and collaborative skill is essential factor in online learning. Emotional engagement is critical aspect of online learning which is not influence either by collaborative learning or personal perseverance. For engaging the student during online learning, higher educational institution should develop collaborative learning as a choice for pedagogical strategy in maintaining learning effectiveness during online learning.