La interactividad estudiantil y compromiso académico en campus virtuales de instituciones de educación superior

Student interactivity in virtual campuses has gained particular relevance following the COVID-19 pandemic, as its direct influence on academic engagement in higher education has become evident. This study aimed to evaluate how four dimensions of student interactivity—interaction modalities, technological medium, interactive content, and the facilitator–participant relationship—explain academic engagement among students from five higher education institutions with physical campuses in the department of Norte de Santander, Colombia. The research was conducted under a positivist paradigm, using a quantitative approach and a non-experimental, cross-sectional, explanatory–confirmatory design. A Likert-type questionnaire was administered to a sample of 266 students, and the data were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, composite reliability (CR), convergent validity (AVE), discriminant validity (HTMT), common method bias assessment, and covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM). The results showed that the exploratory factor analysis explained 67% of the variance in the student interactivity components scale and 59% of the variance in the academic engagement scale. Furthermore, the structural model revealed positive and statistically significant effects of student interactivity dimensions on academic engagement, with the facilitator–participant relationship emerging as the predictor with the highest standardized weight. The study provides contextualized empirical evidence and offers theoretical, methodological, and practical implications for strengthening virtual higher education.