Investigating Relationship of Perceived Learning Engagement, Motivation, and Academic Performance Among Nursing Students: A Multisite Study

The effect of professional identity on nursing academic achievement: the chain mediating effect of general self-efficacy and learning engagement

BACKGROUND

Exploring the impact of professional identity on the academic performance of nursing students is crucial for understanding how to improve educational outcomes in this field. Professional identity not only shapes students' self-concept but also influences their motivation, commitment, and success in their studies. However, the mechanisms underlying this relationship are not fully elucidated. This study aims to examine the potential mediating roles of general self-efficacy and learning engagement in this relationship.

METHODS

A total of 1097 Chinese nursing students participated in this study. They were assessed using the Professional Identity Questionnaire for Undergraduate Students, the General Self-Efficacy Scale, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students, and the College Students Academic Achievement Scale. The data were analyzed using Pearson correlation, structural equation modeling, and deviation-corrected percentile bootstrap techniques.

RESULTS

(1) Professional identity (PI) was positively correlated with academic achievement (AA)(r = 0.446, P < 0.01), and the direct path of professional identity on academic achievement was significant (β = 0.301, t = 19.816, P < 0.001). (2) Professional identity positively predicted general self-efficacy(GSE) (β = 0.183, t = 16.427, P < 0.001) and learning engagement(LE) (β = 0.640, t = 22.494, P < 0.001). GSE positively predicted LE(β = 0.645, t = 9.320, P < 0.001) and AA(β = 0.458, t = 12.376, P < 0.001). LE positively predicted AA (β = 0.169, t = 10.877, P < 0.001). (3) GSE and LE play a significant mediating role between PI and AA. The mediating effect includes three paths: PI→GSE→AA(the mediating effect value: 0.084) and PI→LE→AA (the mediating effect value: 0.108). PI→GSE→LE→AA (the mediating effect value: 0.020).

CONCLUSION

Professional identity exerts both direct and indirect influences on the academic achievement of nursing students, mediated through general self-efficacy and learning engagement. These findings underscore the importance of nurturing professional identity as a strategic approach to enhancing academic success in nursing education, providing a foundation for targeted interventions that foster personal and academic growth.

Factors affecting academic motivation in undergraduate nursing students: A scoping review

AIM

The aim of this scoping review was to discover literature identifying factors influencing academic motivation in undergraduate nursing students.

BACKGROUND

Nursing students have a heavy academic workload, so self-motivated learning is important for them to succeed in the nursing program. There is a plethora of factors that influence the degree and type of motivation in nursing students. Understanding these factors will assist faculty in providing an environment that fosters motivation.

DESIGN

This study was conducted using a scoping review method.

METHOD

This review was completed using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). The following databases were searched: 1) CINAHL; 2) ERIC; 3) Education Full Text; 4) ProQuest; and 5) PUBMED. The date was restricted to articles published from 2019 to 2024. Article titles and abstracts were screened for eligibility.

RESULTS

A total of 461 articles were screened and 10 studies were identified that met eligibility criteria. The articles consisted of descriptive, cross-sectional and correlational studies. The main themes identified were autonomy, competence, social support and coping. The research questions in this review were answered by explaining how autonomy and competence affect academic motivation, along with other contributing factors.

CONCLUSION

Academic motivation was positively correlated with coping behaviors, social support, competence and autonomy. It is recommended that faculty encourage autonomous activities in the classroom and provide positive feedback to increase student competence and academic motivation.

The relationship between college students' learning engagement and academic self-efficacy: a moderated mediation model

Introduction

Despite the return of college students to campus in the post-pandemic era, the deep influence of COVID-19 on learning approaches persists. Existing research has explored fewer mechanisms underlying academic self-efficacy and learning engagement. In line with social cognitive theory, the psychological resilience framework, and vocational socialization theory, this research investigated academic self-efficacy, professional commitment, psychological resilience, and academic engagement among college students in the post-pandemic era. In this research, the focus was on understanding the impact of academic self-efficacy on learning engagement, taking into account gender as a moderator and psychological resilience and professional commitment as mediators.

Methods

We conducted a survey with 1,032 college students in Henan Province, China, utilizing the Psychological Resilience Scale, Academic Self-Efficacy Scale, College Student Learning Engagement Questionnaire, and College Student Professional Commitment Scale. SPSS and the Process plugin were used to assess mediating and moderating effects.

Results

Academic self-efficacy significantly and positively correlates with college students' commitment to learning. The positive anticipation of learning engagement facilitated by academic self-efficacy exerts its effect through the fully parallel mediation of psychological resilience and professional commitment. Notably, the mediation effect of professional commitment was greater than that of psychological resilience. Further research found that the mediation of professional commitment was moderated by gender, with female students demonstrating stronger perceptions of professional commitment associated with elevated levels of learning engagement. Gender did not exhibit a significant moderating effect on psychological resilience.

Conclusion

College students' academic self-efficacy, professional commitment, and psychological resilience must be addressed to enhance their learning engagement.

The impact of digital learning on Saudi nursing students' engagement: A qualitative study

AIM

This study aimed to explore the perception of nursing students regarding their engagement in digital learning environments.

DESIGN

At one of universities in Saudi Arabia, a qualitative descriptive study design was used among nursing students from various academic levels.

METHODS

Data were collected using focus group discussions among a sample of 23 participants. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. The COREQ Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research were used to report this study.

RESULTS

While sharing their perceptions the nursing students reflected on the behavioural and cognitive aspects of engagement, yet they did not include emotional aspects of engagement in their conceptualization. However, the results showed that, while they reflected on their experiences they tended to reflect on emotional aspects of engagement. According to the study's results, self-paced studying, reflective exercises, and interaction with audiovisual and dynamic content all encourage the activation of past knowledge in online learning. The learning modality also was found to be a safe and convenient approach among the participating students. Digital learning presents as a promising educational approach that extends beyond the pandemic yet, efforts should be put in place to facilitate the optimal student engagement to meet learning outcomes. Further research is needed to measure its impact on engagement and other pertinent indicators objectively.

The relationship between difficulties in emotion regulation and solution-focused thinking in nursing students

AIM

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between emotion regulation difficulty and solution-focused thinking in nursing students.

BACKGROUND

It is essential for nursing students to possess solution-focused thinking and emotion regulation skills to cope effectively with stressors arising from their developmental processes, the nature of education and the profession. This is crucial for enhancing the quality of nursing care.

DESIGN

The study design was cross-sectional descriptive and correlational design.

METHODS

The convenience sample of the study consisted of 416 nursing students. The research was conducted between January 20 and February 15, 2024. Data were collected in Türkiye with the difficulties in emotion regulation scale-brief form and the solution focused inventory. Data were analyzed using multivariate linear regression analysis.

RESULTS

An increase of 1 unit in the level of emotion regulation difficulty was associated with a decrease of 0.236 units in participant resource activation and 0.524 units in problem disengagement (p<.001). An increase of 1 unit in the level of emotion regulation difficulty was also associated with an increase of 0.876 units in participant goal orientation (p<.001). Grade point average, grade and age were identified as factors influencing the sub-dimensions of solution-focused thinking (p<.05).

CONCLUSIONS

The study showed that emotion regulation difficulty is an important predictor of solution-focused thinking in nursing students. Therefore, students' emotion regulation difficulties and solution-focused thinking should be evaluated by academic nurses from the beginning of students' enrollment. Also, it is recommended that intervention programs focusing on developing emotion regulation and solution-focused thinking skills for nursing students should be included and implemented in the nursing curriculum.

The association between school educational atmosphere, learning engagement, and professional commitment of nursing students, and learning engagement as the mediator

BACKGROUND

The current shortage and loss of nurses has become a significant problem in healthcare systems around the world. Professional commitment is essential to prevent the loss of nursing staff and stabilize the nursing workforce.

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to explore the unique relationship between school educational atmosphere, learning engagement, and professional commitment, and whether learning engagement would mediate the relationship between educational atmosphere and professional commitment.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study design was used.

SETTINGS

The participants came from six schools in four cities in Hubei Province, China.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 1009 nursing students above the first year of undergraduate studies were included by convenient sampling method.

METHODS

Data were collected using the Educational Climate Inventory, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-student, and the Professional Commitment Scale. Pearson correlation was used to examine the relationship between educational atmosphere, learning engagement, and professional commitment. Mediation analysis was used to test whether learning engagement mediated the relationship between educational atmosphere and professional commitment.

RESULTS

A positive educational atmosphere was associated with a high level of learning engagement, which was associated with a higher level of professional commitment. Learning engagement mediated the relationship between educational atmosphere and professional commitment.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings provide empirical evidence for promoting professional commitment in nursing students. Learning engagement is an important mediating variable connecting educational atmosphere and professional commitment. In order to stabilize the career choices of nursing students, it is necessary to take measures to improve their learning engagement during school.

The Effects of Nursing Students' Locus of Control, Motivation, and Learning Strategies on Their Academic Performance

ABSTRACT

The academic performance of nursing students significantly impacts their ability to deliver quality patient care. This descriptive correlational study investigated the effects of nursing students' locus of control, motivation, and learning strategies on their academic performance in a sample of 515 students. External locus of control was associated with higher scores in extrinsic goal orientation, task value, elaboration, and academic performance. Locus of control, test anxiety, and organization were identified as predictors of academic performance. The study highlights the need for further research on factors affecting academic performance and effective educational interventions.

A multi-center cross-sectional study on identification of influencing factors of medical students' emotional engagement in China

BACKGROUND

Studies exploring influencing factors of emotional engagement among medical students are scarce. Thus, we aimed to identify influencing factors of medical students' emotional engagement.

METHODS

We carried out a multi-center cross-sectional study among 10,901 medical students from 11 universities in China. The Chinese version of Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-Student version (UWES-S) was used to evaluate emotional engagement level of medical students. The predictors related to engagement level were determined by the logistic regression analysis. Furthermore, we constructed a nomogram to predict emotional engagement level of medical students.

RESULTS

A total of 10,576 sample were included in this study. The mean emotional engagement score was 74.61(± 16.21). In the multivariate logistic regression model, we found that males showed higher engagement level compared with females [odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval (CI)): 1.263 (1.147, 1.392), P < 0.001]. Medical students from the second batches of medical universities had higher engagement level and from "Project 985" universities had lower engagement level compared with 211 project universities [OR (95%CI): 1.376 (1.093, 1.733), P = 0.007; OR (95%CI): 0.682 (0.535, 0.868), P = 0.002]. Medical students in grade 4 and grade 2 presented lower engagement level compared with in grade 1 [OR (95%CI): 0.860 (0.752, 0.983), P = 0.027; OR (95%CI): 0.861 (0.757, 0.980), P = 0.023]. Medical students lived in provincial capital cities had higher engagement level compared with in country [OR (95%CI): 1.176 (1.022, 1.354), P = 0.024]. Compared with eight-year emotional duration, medical students in other emotional duration (three-year and four-year) had lower engagement level [OR (95%CI): 0.762 (0.628, 0.924), P = 0.006]. Medical students' engagement level increased with increases of grade point average and interest in studying medicine. Medical students learned by converging style showed lower engagement level [OR (95%CI): 0.827 (0.722, 0.946), P = 0.006] compared with accommodating style. The model showed good discriminative ability (area under curve = 0.778), calibrating ability and clinical utility.

CONCLUSIONS

We identified influencing factors of medical students' emotional engagement and developed a nomogram to predict medical students' emotional engagement level, providing reference and convenience for educators to assess and improve emotional engagement level of medical students. It is crucial for educators to pay more attention to emotional engagement of medical students and adopt effective strategies to improve their engagement level.

Effectiveness and learning experience from undergraduate nursing students in surgical nursing skills course: a quasi- experimental study about blended learning

BACKGROUND

Blended learning is increasingly being adopted, and yet a gap remains in the related literature pertaining to its skill performance, learning engagement and inner experience in undergraduate surgical nursing skills course.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate the changes in skills performance and learning engagement in the application of blended learning, and what it actually brings to nursing students.

DESIGN

The study uses a historical control, two-armed, mixed and quasi-experimental design.

METHODS

The blended learning version of the course was offered to the 2019 class of 334 nursing undergraduates. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected after the course to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the course effects compared with the 304 nursing undergraduates of grade 2017 who adapted traditional learning. Quantitative data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics using IBM SPSS 26.0, and qualitative data were encoded using Nvivo11.0.

RESULTS

There were significant differences in skill performance and learning engagement between the class of 2017 and 2019 (p < 0.001). Combined with further analysis of the interview data, 3 first-level nodes and 8 secondary nodes were determined. Students' opinions, comments and suggestions on the application of blended learning are refreshing.

CONCLUSION

Moving forward with blended learning: opportunities and challenges go hand in hand. Researchers need to continually modify their research designs to respond to variable educational environments.

Student engagement in health professions education: AMEE Guide No. 152

This guide aims to support our colleagues to have comprehensive understanding of student engagement in health professions education. Despite the universal agreement about the significance of student engagement, there is lack of uniformity in conceptualizing and operationalizing this emerging construct. We review the theoretical basis explaining student engagement from three main perspectives: behavioral, psychological, and socio-cultural. In addition, we propose a contemporary and comprehensive framework for the student engagement in higher education, which is applicable to health professions education contexts. Drawing from this framework, we explain the conceptualization of the construct and its preceding factors, mediators, dimensions, spheres, and outcomes of student engagement. The proposed framework introduces student 'engagement through partnerships' as a novel component compared with the existing models of student engagement in higher education. This way, we are proposing a mixed model that not only considers the student as a 'customer' but also as a 'partner' in education. Engagement of students through partnerships include four areas: (1) provision of the education program, (2) scholarly research, (3) governance and quality assurance, and (4) community activities. This guide will provide practical applications on how to improve student engagement in health professions education. Finally, we highlight the current gaps in areas of research in the student engagement literature and suggested plans for future directions.[Box: see text].

Psychometric evaluation of the Chinese version of motivation for nursing student scale (MNSS): A quantitative and cross-sectional design

BACKGROUND

Academic motivation is the psychological factor that promotes learning activities. The persistence of learning activities in nursing education is directly influenced by academic motivation. However, there are currently no specialist instruments for nursing students in China.

OBJECTIVE

To translate the Motivation for nursing student scale (MNSS) into Chinese and evaluate its validity and reliability among nursing students in China.

DESIGN

A quantitative and cross-sectional design.

SETTING

The survey was conducted at a medical university in Jinzhou, China between March and May 2022.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 688 Chinese nursing students were surveyed by questionnaire in this study.

METHOD

The Chinese version of MNSS adopted Brislin's transition model and conducted expert consultations to validate the facial validity and testing of the transition version. Reliability and validity were tested using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and internal consistency reliability.

RESULTS

Nursing experts confirm the high content validity of the Chinese version of the 20-item scale. An exploratory factorial analysis revealed a four-factor solution, with a total variance of 64.1% and confirmatory factor analysis results showed a satisfactory fit (χ2/df=2.738, RMSEA =0.073, SRMR = 0.0719, CFI = 0.914, IFI = 0.915, NFI =0.872, RFI =0.849,). Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the scale was 0.869, and the split-half reliability is 0.727.

CONCLUSION

The Chinese version of MNSS has satisfactory reliability and validity and is a reliable instrument to assess the academic motivation of Chinese nursing students.

The Relationships of Hope, Optimism, and Academic Motivation With GPA Among University Students in Hong Kong

Research demonstrates the relationship between dispositional hope and GPA, but mixed results regarding the relationship between dispositional optimism and GPA. Hope and optimism also have been shown to predict academic motivation. However, no study has yet investigated all of these factors together, and most research concerns only Western samples. In a cross-sectional sample of 129 Hong Kong university students, we administered measures of internal hope (hope regarding one's own capabilities), external-family hope (hope derived from family), optimism, and intrinsic and extrinsic academic motivation. We found significant zero-order correlations between internal hope and GPA, but not between external-family hope nor optimism and GPA. Mediation analyses showed that internal hope directly related to GPA, and did not appear mediated by academic motivation. Given our findings, future studies testing hope-based interventions in similar samples may be warranted. We discuss implications for culturally adapting hope interventions.

Moderating effect of organizational climate on the relationship between research motivation and learning engagement among nurses taking part-time master's program: A cross-sectional study

AIMS

To investigate the moderating effects of perceived organizational climate on the relationship between research motivation and learning engagement in research among nurses pursuing a part-time master's degree.

BACKGROUND

Research motivation positively affects learning engagement in research. However, the role of perceived organizational climate has not been explored in nurses taking part-time master's program in China. This study examined the relationships between various types of research motivation and learning engagement in research and whether the perceived organizational climate moderates the relationship between the other variables.

METHODS

This cross-sectional one-center study was performed on 230 nurses by assessing learning engagement in research, research motivation and perceived organizational climate.

RESULTS

The mean age of participants was 31.3 ± 3.5 years and 91.3% were female. Participants who had been assigned a supervisor showed higher learning engagement in research than those without a supervisor (3.65 ± 0.60 vs. 3.48 ± 0.61; P < 0.001). Participants who had experience conducting research reported higher learning engagement in research than those with no experience (3.30 ± 0.71 vs. 3.14 ± 0.83; P < 0.05). The mean score of learning engagement in research was 3.39 ± 0.63. The mean scores for intrinsic, extrinsic and failure-avoidance motivation were 3.72 ± 0.61, 3.71 ± 0.71 and 3.43 ± 0.70, respectively. As for perceived organizational climate, the mean score was 122.70 out of 148. Learning engagement in research was significantly positively correlated with intrinsic research motivation, extrinsic research motivation and perceived organizational climate scores (r = 0.441, 0.336, 0.307, p < 0.001, respectively). Perceived organizational climate moderated the correlation between intrinsic and extrinsic research motivation and learning engagement in research.

CONCLUSION

Nurses taking the master's program perceived a higher level of perceived organizational climate could strengthen the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic research motivation and learning engagement in research. More organizational support can enhance learning engagement in research by reinforcing intrinsic and extrinsic research motivation.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

Universities can assign supervisors promptly. Universities and hospitals can provide education about the importance of research in nursing and reinforce their intrinsic and extrinsic research motivation. Hospitals can adjust policies based on the needs of nurses taking the master's program to provide organizational support, to facilitate the research learning process.

The mediating role of professional commitment between the clinical learning environment and learning engagement of nursing students in clinical practice: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Previous studies have shown that learning engagement can significantly predict nursing students' academic achievement. Nursing educators put considerable effort into assessing and promoting students' engagement in school. However, nursing students' learning engagement in clinical practice has seldom been explored.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate nursing students' learning engagement and influencing factors in clinical practice and examine the effects of the clinical learning environment and professional commitment on learning engagement, specifically to verify the mediation effect of professional commitment.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study.

SETTINGS

The participants were from five hospitals in Jining, Shandong, China.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 318 nursing students who were at the end of clinical practice training (>8 months) were included in this study.

METHODS

The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students, the Clinical Learning Environment for Nursing Scale, and the Professional Commitment Scale were used for data collection. Regression and mediating analyses were used to explore the influencing factors of clinical learning engagement and the potential mediating role of professional commitment.

RESULTS

The participants experienced moderate levels of engagement in clinical learning. The clinical learning environment indirectly affected nursing students' learning engagement in clinical practice through professional commitment. Night shifts and educational background also contributed to learning engagement.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings provide new perspectives on promoting nursing students' clinical learning engagement. Professional commitment might be an important mediating variable in nursing education. There is a need to take steps to improve professional commitment of nursing students.

The impact of distance education on nursing students course performance in a sino-foreign cooperative program during the onset of COVID-19: a quasi-experimental study

BACKGROUND

The outbreak of COVID-19 changed many studies' teaching mode in higher education profoundly, including nursing. This study evaluated the impact of distance education on the course performance of nursing students in a nursing fundamentals course during the epidemic of COVID-19.

METHODS

This is a comparative prospective and retrospective quasi-experimental study. Nursing students in a Sino-foreign cooperative program were allocated to either an intervention group (distance education, n = 48) or control group (face-to-face teaching, n = 36). A self-efficacy questionnaire, an academic engagement scale and grades of the final written examination were used to evaluate the students' self-efficacy, academic engagement and academic performance, respectively. The data in this study were analyzed by two independent sample t-tests and the Chi-square test. Students experiencing distance teaching had worse academic performance (p = 0.001) and lower levels of learning behavior self-efficacy (p<0.05). The total score of academic engagement (p = 0.04) for students experiencing distance teaching were significantly lower than the scores of those students in the control group.

CONCLUSIONS

In the context of COVID-19, nursing students conducted using distance education had poor course performance.

Aspects of self-regulated learning and their influence on the mathematics achievement of fifth graders in the context of four different proclaimed curricula

Metacognition is a part of the models of self-regulated learning. The consideration of a broader context resonates with a social cognitive perspective approach to learning which dominates the educational academic field with the theory of self-regulated learning. Metacognition is considered a crucial factor influencing mathematics achievement. Furthermore, the affective field including pupils' self-efficacy, interest and motivation are the phenomena involved in mathematical problem-solving. On the other hand, metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive regulations are not a regular part of mathematics education in the Czech Republic. The main aim of this study was to investigate the relation between pupils' attitude toward mathematics; metacognitive knowledge; self-efficacy and motivation; metacognitive monitoring; and their achievement in solving mathematical problems. All together 1,133 students of Grade 5 from four types of Czech schools participated in the study. There were traditional schools; schools teaching mathematics by genetic constructivism, i.e., Hejný's method; Montessori schools; and Dalton schools were involved. The assessed variables, namely relation to mathematics; metacognitive knowledge; self-efficacy and motivation; metacognitive monitoring; and mathematical achievement were used as an input to regression analysis. Item-response theory was used for assessing the performance of the students and demands of the tasks. The metacognitive monitoring was detected as the most significant predictor of mathematics achievement for higher- and lower-performing students as well as for the item with high and low demands. The study reveals how the different mathematics curricula (un)support the metacognitive processes involved in mathematical problem-solving. The information allows teachers to spend sufficient time with particular types of mathematics problems whose solutions is determined by activation of metacognitive processes. This demonstrates the importance of including the activities for development of metacognitive monitoring in mathematics education.

Volunteering among pre-clinical medical students: Study of its association with academic performance using institutional data

Background: Participating in volunteering activities during students’ higher education experience is becoming more commonplace. Studies have noted that volunteering has a positive impact on the academic performance of undergraduate medical students. However, most of these studies rely on self-reported data like surveys, interviews, and journals. In this study, we leverage actual institutional data to examine the relationship between volunteering and academic performance among medical students in the pre-clinical phases of the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) program. The current study also explores the factors that might influence students’ volunteering behaviours.

Methods: Analysis based on retrospective data was conducted in the College of Medicine at the Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Three years of volunteering records for three cohorts of undergraduate medical students enrolled in the MBBS program between 2016 – 2018 were reviewed and analyzed to complete this study. The correlation between the annual Grade Point Average (GPA) and volunteering was studied across the three cohorts in each study year.

Results:  Analysis of 153 undergraduate medical students' volunteering records revealed a significant positive relationship between the annual GPA and the number of volunteering in year two. The correlation was insignificant in year one, year three, and across the three cohorts.

Conclusions:  The association between academic performance and volunteering among undergraduate medical students appeared to be positive. However, this relationship differs across the pre-clinical study years and is likely influenced by factors associated with volunteering that might influence GPA.

Flipped Classroom and Gamification Approach: Its Impact on Performance and Academic Commitment on Sustainable Learning in Education

The onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic has negatively impacted sustainable learning in education (SLE). During city lockdowns, higher education institutes (HEIs) have transitioned from adopting solely traditional didactic classroom teaching to including innovative, flexible learning approaches such as flipped classrooms. Gamification is a new techno-pedagogy that has been integrated into flipped classrooms to promote learner achievement and engagement. Grounded in self-determination theory, the objectives of this exploratory study were to analyse the influence of the flipped classroom and gamification on SLE concerning learner achievement and engagement. Participants were recruited from postgraduate business education programmes in China, and three instructional interventions were applied for a semester of 10 weeks. The three instructional interventions applied were: gamified flipped classroom (n = 25), non-gamified flipped classroom (n = 24) and gamified traditional classroom (n = 19). A mixed-methods approach was used, and both quantitative and qualitative data were analysed. The results indicated gamified traditional classrooms promote learner achievement, and the gamified flipped classrooms promote learner engagement. Furthermore, learning culture, such as teacher-dependency, also influence learner achievement and engagement. The class observation reports and learner interviews suggested that both gamified flipped classrooms and gamified traditional classrooms support SLE in the time of academic uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Relations Between Class Competition and Primary School Students' Academic Achievement: Learning Anxiety and Learning Engagement as Mediators

This study aimed to analyze the relations between class competition and primary school students' academic achievement, considering the possible mediating roles of learning anxiety and learning engagement. Participants were 1,479 primary school students from four primary schools in Zhejiang, China. We analyzed participants' scores for class competition, learning anxiety, and learning engagement and their last two final exam scores. Class competition did not directly predict academic achievement, but indirectly affected academic achievement through learning anxiety and learning engagement. There were three effect paths: (1) class competition negatively predicted academic achievement by increasing learning anxiety; (2) class competition positively predicted academic achievement by promoting learning engagement; and (3) class competition affected academic achievement through multiple mediating effects of learning anxiety and learning engagement. This study highlights the important roles of learning anxiety and learning engagement in class competition and academic achievement, which have theoretical and practical significance.