What are the roles of positive psychological construct in blended learning contexts? Integrating academic buoyancy into the Community of Inquiry framework.

INTRODUCTION: In the post-epidemic era, blended learning has become a social trend for the future of higher education, and scholars have endeavored to understand the factors that influence student learning in these blended communities. Communities of Inquiry is a conceptual framework that describes the components of blended learning environments, indicating teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence. However, the framework fails to adequately explore how individual learning motivational factors influence student learning. Therefore, this study extends the Community of Inquiry framework by drawing on a positive psychological construct-academic buoyancy to reveal the relationship between academic buoyancy and the three presences through empirical research.

METHODS: The theoretical model was validated by SPSS 26.0 and smartPLS4.0. To evaluate the measurement and structural models, structural equation modeling (SEM) was carried out using the partial least squares (PLS) method.

FINDINGS: (a) Teaching presence positively predicts academic buoyancy, and academic buoyancy positively predicts social presence and cognitive presence; (b) academic buoyancy mediates teaching presence and social presence, as well as teaching presence and cognitive presence; and (c) academic buoyancy acts as a chain mediator between teaching presence and cognitive presence through social presence.

DISCUSSION: The results of this study fill a gap in the multiple roles of individual positive psychological construct-academic buoyancy in blended learning communities, extend the Community of Inquiry theoretical framework, and provide empirical evidence for blended learning quality and practical improvement strategies.