JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Medical graduate education increasingly uses blended and online delivery, although students' academic self-regulation may be shaped by different motivational and cognitive processes across learning contexts, with emotional factors potentially playing a complementary role. Understanding how these mechanisms operate and whether their structural relationships differ between online/blended and face-to-face formats can inform targeted educational supports.

Objective:

The present investigation developed and tested a comparative causal model of academic self-regulation among medical graduate students in online/blended versus face-to-face programs. We examined how key motivational constructs (eg, academic self-efficacy, task value, future orientation, perfectionism, and academic help-seeking), positive achievement emotions, and cognitive factors (cognitive academic engagement and need for closure) relate to academic self-regulation, and whether these relationships differ by learning context.

Methods:

The design was cross-sectional, comparative causal modeling. Participants were master’s-level students at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences enrolled in either face-to-face (population n=1554; sample n=310) or blended/online (population n=449; sample n=205) programs selected using cluster sampling. Data were collected using validated instruments measuring academic self-regulation (Bouffard scale), academic self-efficacy (Midgley et al), academic engagement (Schaufeli & Bakker), multidimensional perfectionism (Frost), academic help-seeking (Ryan & Pintrich), task value (Pintrich), future orientation (Seginer), need for closure (DeBacker & Crowson), and achievement emotions (AEQ; Pekrun et al). Data were analyzed using path analysis/structural equation modeling. Model fit was evaluated using χ²/df, CFI, GFI, AGFI, and RMSEA. Direct, indirect, and total effects were estimated for each group, and comparative interpretation focused on effect patterns and explained variance.

Results:

The hypothesized causal model reached an acceptable fit in both face-to-face and blended/online groups (χ²/df approximately <3; CFI/GFI/AGFI in the acceptable range; RMSEA approximately 0.02–0.05). In both groups, most of the specified direct effects reached statistical significance, while the indirect effects of exogenous variables on academic self-regulation through intermediate constructs were supported overall. Cognitive academic engagement and academic self-efficacy were important proximal predictors of academic self-regulation. The need for closure had a negative direct effect with regard to academic self-regulation. However, a previously specified direct effect from need for closure to self-regulated learning strategies could not be retained in the final revised model. In both cohorts, the indirect pathway from positive achievement emotions to academic self-regulation via cognitive engagement was not supported, indicating that positive emotions alone were insufficient to increase self-regulation through cognitive engagement. The model explained a substantial proportion of variance in academic self-regulation in both groups—being approximately 0.44 in face-to-face and 0.46 in blended/online students—indicating comparable overall explanatory power across learning contexts.

Conclusions:

A comparative causal model integrating motivational, emotional, and cognitive pathways provided an adequate explanation of academic self-regulation among medical graduate students in both face-to-face and blended/online formats. Findings highlight the central role of cognitive engagement and academic self-efficacy as proximal levers for supporting self-regulation across contexts. The lack of a supported indirect effect from positive emotions to self-regulation via cognitive engagement suggests that emotional experiences may not be enough unless they are accompanied by cognitively engaged learning behaviors. Considering motivational and cognitive mechanisms that together shape self-regulation within different delivery modes, educational interventions in medical graduate programs should focus on strengthening self-efficacy beliefs and cognitively engaged learning practices.