1. Introduction
In recent years, the rapid development of information technology to support teaching and learning activities has triggered a profound change in the way learning takes place, and the adoption of emerging technologies can facilitate better learning outcomes for learners [
1]. Online collaborative learning, supported by emerging technologies, is widely used as an effective learning model and has become the new norm for learning [
2]. Individual, self-regulated learning is absolutely necessary to achieve optimal productive collaboration [
3], so it is especially important that online learners have the self-regulatory ability to control, manage, and plan their learning behaviors [
4]. In the online collaborative learning process, students set common goals, standards, and plans [
5]. Individuals need to search around and learn the course content on the Internet by themselves; collect and organize information through effective use of the Internet [
6]; share useful content to the course group; engage in active interactive sharing, and thus achieve individual and collective knowledge construction; and finally, complete the learning task together. The Internet provides easy access to vast amounts of information on a variety of topics, and learners themselves need to properly evaluate the information on the Internet while searching for it in order to consider it as valid knowledge. Learners’ Internet-specific epistemic beliefs are important for their access to correct and reliable information on the Internet [
7]. Self-regulated learning and Internet-specific epistemic beliefs play important roles in online collaborative learning.
Most previous studies have widely used the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to investigate learners’ behavioral intentions to adopt online collaborative learning [
2,
8] or to investigate the role of moderating behaviors in online collaborative learning [
9,
10,
11], but less attention has been paid to the impact of Internet-specific epistemic beliefs on online collaborative learning. The process of online collaborative learning involves the use and sharing of a large number of Internet information resources. Internet-specific epistemic beliefs, as an important factor for students to correctly assess the reliability of Internet information, have an impact on academic achievement in online collaborative learning that should not be underestimated. Because of the lack of research on Internet-specific epistemic beliefs in online collaborative learning contexts, this paper conducts an empirical study to investigate the impact of Internet-specific epistemic beliefs on academic achievement in online collaborative learning contexts from the perspective of self-regulated learning based on the integrated theoretical model of epistemic beliefs and self-regulated learning proposed by Muis [
12]. Specifically, two mediating variables, namely achievement goal orientation and metacognitive strategies, are introduced from Internet-specific epistemic beliefs to establish a multiple mediating model that affects academic achievement. The mechanism of the interaction between multiple factors is systematically revealed, and feasible suggestions to improve the quality of online collaborative learning for college students are proposed.
As a whole, this study consists of four major parts. The first part is the theoretical framework, which mainly reviews the self-regulation theory and the foundation of previous studies and puts forward hypotheses; the second part is the methodology, which mainly consists of the elaboration of research methods and analysis of data; the third part is the discussion, which mainly draws research conclusions based on data analysis and gives corresponding research recommendations; finally, the fourth part summarizes the study and discusses its innovations and future research.
5. Discussion
Based on the perspective of self-regulated learning, this paper constructs a multiple mediating effects model to explore the influence of college students’ Internet-specific epistemic beliefs on academic achievement in online collaborative learning contexts, reveals the chain mediating role of achievement goal orientation and metacognitive strategies in the above-mentioned influence process, draws some meaningful conclusions, and provides empirical support for the important role of college students’ group self-learning status in online collaborative learning.
First, college students’ Internet general epistemic beliefs and Internet-specific epistemic justification both have significant direct and indirect effects on academic achievement, which is largely consistent with the ideas in Muis’s integrated self-regulated learning model. This finding is consistent with previous findings that students who had more sophisticated epistemic beliefs also had higher levels of achievement [
57], and conversely, students with more naive epistemic beliefs are more likely to have poorer academic achievement [
58]. The more mature students’ Internet-specific epistemic beliefs are, with the authenticity of knowledge acquired on the Internet and the reliability of the source cross-verified and checked at the same time, the more accurate the acquired knowledge and information is, and the higher their academic achievement will be. Specifically, in online collaborative learning situations, students rely on information technology support for resource seeking, resource sharing, and, ultimately, intergroup inspiration and perspective sharing [
59], and mature Internet-specific epistemic beliefs help students better evaluate acquired knowledge on the Internet, improve the accuracy of their own Internet knowledge retrieval, and thus become more successful in their academic achievement. Conversely, if college students believe that the learning materials they find on the Internet are composed of truthful or conclusive content that will not change over time, they will acquire unreliable learning materials, engage in erroneous knowledge learning, and have lower academic achievement. Nowadays, in the new era of digital education transformation, various emerging technologies are being deeply integrated with education, and the Internet has become an inseparable part of the current educational ecology. Therefore, it is suggested that schools can provide targeted epistemic training after understanding students’ Internet-specific epistemic beliefs, as well as conduct group work activities so that they can effectively discuss and communicate with each other during the learning process and cultivate a systematic and developmental view of knowledge on the Internet to promote students’ internalized constructive knowledge, thus increasing their immunity to Internet spam and their ability to evaluate Internet information by avoiding the interference of irrelevant information. On the other hand, teachers need to pay attention to the characteristics of students’ Internet-specific epistemic beliefs and cultivate students’ mature Internet-specific epistemic beliefs through effective ways, such as training and guidance; for example, guiding students to compare and evaluate different viewpoints through critical thinking training, value discernment, and other ways, reflecting on their previous ideas about Internet knowledge, and then making adjustments to their epistemic beliefs to promote students’ Dialectical thinking skills.
Second, metacognitive strategies play a partly mediating role in Internet-specific epistemic justification and academic achievement, which is partially consistent with Muis’s integration model; i.e., epistemic beliefs affect metacognitive strategies and indirectly influence academic achievement, and the more mature students’ Internet-specific epistemic justification is, the more frequently they use metacognitive strategies, and the better their academic achievement. This finding is consistent with previous findings that the more mature students’ epistemic beliefs are, the more they tend to use deeper learning strategies in their learning process [
60,
61]. In online collaborative learning, students need to cooperate with each other through continuous knowledge construction and information sharing, and students’ cognitive input becomes especially important in solving the problems faced in collaborative learning, and metacognitive strategies can effectively monitor and control individual cognitive processes and results. The more frequently students use metacognitive strategies, the more effectively they can control their cognitive processes and outcomes, and the more likely they are to succeed in their academic achievement. The more mature students prove to be in Internet-specific epistemic justification, the better they can dialectically evaluate knowledge claims on the Internet, and the more frequently they use metacognitive strategies to monitor their cognitive processes to solve problems in the collaborative learning process. However, the mediating effect of metacognitive strategies in the relationship between college students’ Internet general epistemic beliefs and academic achievement did not hold, suggesting that although students hold mature Internet general epistemic beliefs about Internet knowledge and doubt the authenticity of Internet knowledge, the effect of motivating them to use metacognitive strategies and thus influence academic achievement was not obvious. Metacognitive strategies are closely related to autonomous learning, and they help learners take control of autonomous learning behaviors. The autonomy of learning requires online learners to rely on self-regulation for online learning, and the effectiveness of online learning largely depends on students’ ability to self-regulate their learning and actively participate in the learning process [
62]. Metacognitive strategy development is the key to self-regulated learning; therefore, it is recommended that schools should pay attention to the guidance and training of college students in the use of metacognitive strategies, formulate relevant activity plans, design online learning platforms to monitor learners’ learning behaviors in real time, and promote learners’ timely self-regulation through the system’s reminder function. On the other hand, teachers can start from the following aspects in the daily teaching process: First, help students fully understand the nature of the learning tasks. Second, help students understand the effect of strategy factors in the task-solving process. Third, guide students to develop a task-solving plan. Fourth, assist students to record and monitor their cognitive learning behaviors during the problem-solving process with the help of self-monitoring forms, self-evaluation forms, and other assistance tools to develop students’ self-monitoring ability and reflective learning ability, and to improve students’ self-regulated learning ability.
Third, mastery goal orientation and achievement approach goal orientation had significant partial mediating effects between both Internet general epistemic beliefs and Internet-specific epistemic and academic achievement. The mediating effect value of mastery goal orientation is much larger than that of achievement approach goal orientation, which indicates that the more mature students’ Internet-specific epistemic beliefs are, the more likely achievement goal orientation students who tend to mastery goal orientation are to achieve well academically than students who tend to achievement approach goal orientation. This finding is consistent with previous findings that mastery goal orientation and achievement approach goal orientation were significantly positively associated with academic achievement, and that mastery goal orientation mediated the effect of intrinsic motivation on academic achievement [
45]. In online collaborative learning, students hold mature Internet specific epistemic beliefs, and in the achievement goal orientation, the more inclined they are to mastery goal orientation (more willing to truly master knowledge), the more inclined they are to achievement approach goal orientation (more inclined to learn from the favorable judgment of their own ability). These two kinds of goal orientation will promote better academic achievement. However, performance avoidance goal orientation had a negative mediating effect between college students’ Internet general epistemic beliefs and academic achievement, and a non-significant mediating effect between Internet-specific epistemic justification and academic achievement. This suggests that in online collaborative learning, the more students hold mature Internet general epistemic beliefs, the more their goal orientations tend to be toward achievement avoidance goal orientations, which negatively affect academic achievement instead due to insufficient motivation to achieve good academic achievement. With the same mature Internet-specific epistemic justification, the more inclined the goal orientation is to achievement avoidance goal orientation, the less effective it is in influencing academic achievement due to too much focus on how to avoid their own mistakes and deficiencies in comparison with others, and thus the effect on academic achievement is also not significant. Research suggests that school and classroom policies and practices can influence students’ goal orientations [
63,
64], so it is suggested that schools can give students the opportunity to showcase their success through competitions, events, etc., to help them gain confidence and maintain a positive goal orientation. The choice of course resources in the classroom also has a direct impact on the achievement of their goals, so schools can also design online learning spaces to build course resources that meet the different needs of learners and match them with corresponding assignments and exercises to promote the use of positive goal orientations. On the other hand, teachers should help college students choose and set appropriate goals, help students to do goal planning clearly so that they can objectively assess their own situation, and thus guide them to choose positive achievement goal orientation. Teachers also need to further guide students to experience a sense of self-worth and sanity in their studies, to acquire more self-efficacy from their studies so as to maintain a good state of motivation, and to cultivate students to correctly view academic successes and failures and to make reasonable attributions.
Fourth, the study also found a significant chain mediating effect of mastery goal orientation and metacognitive strategies between Internet general epistemic beliefs, Internet-specific epistemic justification, and academic achievement. This finding is consistent with previous findings that epistemic beliefs influenced the types of achievement goals students adopted, which subsequently influenced the types of learning strategies they used in their education course, and their achievement [
30]. It shows that the more mature students’ Internet-specific epistemic beliefs are, and the more they are inclined to mastery goal orientation, the more willing they are to actually master knowledge and to use metacognitive strategies for self-monitoring, thus promoting better academic achievement. The chain mediating effects of metacognitive strategies and achievement approach goal orientation were not significant. This indicates that in online collaborative learning, the more mature the Internet-specific epistemic beliefs that students hold, and the more they tend to achievement approach goal orientation, the less significant the effect of using metacognitive strategies on academic achievement. Similarly, for students with mature Internet-specific epistemic beliefs, the more they tended to achievement avoidance goal orientation, the less effective they were in using metacognitive strategies to influence academic achievement because they focused on comparing themselves to others in the learning process to avoid their own mistakes and deficiencies and to avoid appearing more incompetent than their peers. Therefore, it is recommended that schools and teachers include training in the use of metacognitive strategies while setting up and conducting positive goal orientation activities. For example, schools should design online learning spaces to provide course resources for learners’ different needs and promote the use of positive goal-directed courses while designing real-time monitoring programs for learners’ learning behaviors to promote learners’ timely self-regulation. While guiding learners to look at the success or failure of their studies in a correct way, teachers should add tools such as self-monitoring forms and self-evaluation forms to help learners solve problems.
In addition, the improvement of the above-mentioned factors associated with academic achievement in our study could improve not only the knowledge skills of college students in the online collaborative learning process, but also their cognitive perceptions, which, in turn, could improve educational sustainability. At the same time, improvements in online collaborative academic achievement can improve student well-being, and thus the financial sustainability of educational institutions. Further exploration of how Internet-specific epistemic beliefs play a role in different teaching and learning processes is necessary, for students’ epistemic beliefs are a core element of their own cognition and one of the important factors influencing educational sustainability.
6. Conclusions, Limitations, and Future Research
Despite the fact that online collaborative learning is a widely adopted learning approach in the educational field in the era of educational informatization [
65], not all online collaborative learning results in good learning outcomes [
66]. In order to improve the quality of online collaborative learning among university students, this paper firstly examines the relationship between Internet-specific epistemic beliefs and online collaborative academic achievement. It also clarifies the relationships and internal mechanisms of action between Internet-specific epistemic beliefs, achievement goal orientation, metacognitive strategies, and multiple factors of academic achievement of college students in online collaborative learning contexts in relation to their Internet-specific epistemic beliefs, and suggests feasible recommendations for schools and teachers. Specifically, the findings showed that Internet-specific epistemic beliefs, metacognitive strategies, mastery goal orientation, and achievement approach goal orientation each had a significant positive effect on academic achievement. In addition, Internet-specific epistemic beliefs had a significant positive effect on both metacognitive strategies and achievement goal orientation, and mastery goal orientation and achievement approach goal orientation were each significantly and positively associated with metacognitive strategies. More importantly, in the relationship between Internet-specific epistemic beliefs and academic achievement, metacognitive strategies, mastery goal orientation, and achievement approach goal orientation all play a partial mediating role, while metacognitive strategies and mastery goal orientation together play a chain mediating role.
In addition, this paper not only responds to Pintrich’s [
17] call for empirical research on how epistemic beliefs affect motivation, strategy use, cognition, and academic achievement, but it also validates the hypothesis of the relationship between epistemic beliefs, goal orientation, learning strategies, and achievement in Muis’s integrated model of epistemic beliefs and self-regulated learning, and adds corresponding empirical evidence to Muis’s theoretical model. Moreover, the study also responds to the call for sustainable education. Due to the popularity of online collaborative learning approaches, the education sector needs to improve the academic achievement of students within them to maintain the sustainability of online education, as well as focus on the ways in which Internet-specific epistemic beliefs play a role in the teaching–learning process in order to improve student perceptions and to maintain the sustainability of education.
However, there are some limitations in this study, which need to be improved in follow-up studies. First, more advanced methods can be used for data collection. The traditional self-reporting scale has certain shortcomings, and in the context of digital transformation, the study should adopt more emerging technologies for data collection. Second, the subjects in this study were all university students who participated in online collaborative learning, and insufficient attention was paid to other types of online learners. And the findings apply to research contexts similar to this study; other research contexts may differ. Future studies should replicate this investigation in multiple countries, regions, and cultures to correct its shortcomings and expand the scope of its findings. Moreover, the influence of Internet-specific epistemic beliefs of different types of learners on their learning process should be considered in order to reveal the relationship between Internet-specific epistemic beliefs and learning in a more comprehensive way.