The Influence of Internet-Specific Epistemic Beliefs on Academic Achievement in an Online Collaborative Learning Context for College Students

Abstract

Online collaborative learning has become a new norm for online teaching at colleges, and improving the quality of online collaborative learning is an inevitable requirement for deepening the information age of education. This paper establishes a multiple mediating effect model based on a self-regulated learning integration model to explore the influence of college students’ Internet-specific epistemic beliefs on academic achievement in online collaborative learning contexts. The results of a survey of 503 college students participating in online group collaborative learning showed that college students’ Internet-specific epistemic beliefs in online collaborative learning contexts significantly and positively predicted academic achievement. Moreover, college students’ metacognitive strategies partially mediated the relationship between Internet-specific epistemic justification and academic achievement. In addition, college students’ mastery goal orientation and achievement approach goal orientation had significant partial mediating effects between Internet-specific epistemic beliefs and academic achievement. College students’ mastery goal orientation and metacognitive strategies had significant chain mediating effects between Internet-specific epistemic beliefs and academic achievement. Finally, suggestions, significance, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.