Emergency Online Learning: The Effects of Interactional, Motivational, Self-Regulatory, and Situational Factors on Learning Outcomes and Continuation Intentions

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of interactional, motivational, self-regulatory, and situational factors on university students’ online learning outcomes and continuation intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected from 255 students taking a business course at a university in southern China. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that while family financial hardship caused by COVID-19 was a marginally significant negative predictor of students’ learning outcomes, learner–content interaction; instructors’ provision of e-resources, course planning, and organisation; and students’ intrinsic goal orientation and meta-cognitive self-regulation were significant positive predictors with the latter two sets of predictors mediating the effects of learner–instructor and learner–learner interactions, respectively. Multinominal logistic regression analyses showed that learner–instructor interaction, learner–content interaction, and private learning space were significant positive predictors of students’ intentions to continue with online learning, but learner–learner interaction was a significant negative predictor. These findings point to the differential effects of various types of interactional and situational factors on learning outcomes and continuation intentions, and the instructor- and learner-level factors that mediate the effects of learner–instructor and learner–learner interactions on learning outcomes. They contribute to our understandings of emergency online learning and provide implications for facilitating it.