Loading HTML document with PHP variables via AJAX - php

Question

I am attempting to load a HTML document with a PHP Variable when a button is clicked through AJAX. However, when this is done, the page is blank with no data called back.
The set of links which are being used to load Ajax files are below
<a class="nav-link active" id="dash" href=""><i class="fas fa-chart-bar icon"></i> <span class="text">Dashboard</span></a>
<a class="nav-link" id="myProfile" href=""><i class="fas fa-cogs icon"></i> <span class="text">My Profile</span></a>
<a class="nav-link" href=""><i class="fas fa-users icon"></i> <span class="text">Users</span></a>
<a class="nav-link" href=""><i class="fas fa-graduation-cap"></i> <span class="text">Subjects</span></a>
<a class="nav-link" href=""><i class="far fa-calendar-alt"></i> <span class="text">Bookings</span></a>
<a class="nav-link" href=""><i class="fas fa-list-ul"></i> <span class="text">Reviews</span></a>
<a class="nav-link" href=""><i class="fas fa-comments"></i> <span class="text">Messages</span></a>
<a class="nav-link" href=""><i class="fas fa-question"></i> <span class="text">Support</span></a>
<a class="nav-link text-danger" id="logout" href=""><i class="fas fa-sign-out-alt icon"></i> <span class="text">Logout</span></a>
An example of the what I am looking to load is in a page named dashboard.php which contains the following to be placed within a .dashContent div.
dashboard.php:
<div class="row">
<div class="col-sm-6 col-xs-12 text-center">
<h1><?php echo $fullName; ?></h1>
<img src="../images/placeholder.png" class="profileImage">
</div>
<div class="col-sm-6 col-xs-12 text-center">
<h1>What's New?</h1>
<!-- Some Alerts for information -->
<div class="alert alert-success">New Users Today</div>
<div class="alert alert-success">Messages Today </div>
<div class="alert alert-success">Lessons Planned for Today</div>
<div class="alert alert-info">New Tutor Requests</div>
</div>
The following code will include the JavaScript functions to load the Ajax and gifs for loading are like this:
function dashAjax(){
$("#dash").click(function(e) {
e.preventDefault();
$("#spinner").show();
$(".dashContent").html("");
setTimeout(function(){
dashRequest();
}, 1500);
});
}
function dashRequest() {
$("#spinner").hide();
$(".dashContent").load("dashboard.php");
}
The variable $fullName is stored at the top of the index.php page like so -> $fullName = getFullName($user);