Abstract :
[en] The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted higher education. It is likely that blended and distance education systems will be used on a massive scale in the post-pandemic period. However, the governing bodies of universities and colleges are all asking the same question: Will this transition benefit students? In this study, we aim to assess the effect of motivation and participation on student success in a blended course. The program offered to the students is organized according to an alternation between distance learning and face-to-face sessions. The totality of the learning content is proposed in video clips accessible on the Moodle platform. Motivation is an essential variable because it has a strong influence on different academic variables such as persistence, commitment and success (Darnon & Butera, 2005; Dweck, 1986). In some blended courses, student engagement may be weakened compared to a traditional teaching context (Tuckman, 2007, cited by (Sun & Rueda, 2012)). However, student engagement is seen as a fundamental variable (Sun & Rueda, 2012). In blended or distance education, an easily observable aspect of student engagement can be measured through student participation, which is one of the indicator of student engagement (Baragash & Al-Samarraie, 2018; Cacciamani et al., 2012; Hrastinski, 2008). We measured motivation using two scales: academic self-concept (Dierendonck, 2008) and achievement goals (Darnon & Butera, 2005). The indicator of online participation corresponds to the number of logs on the platform. A multiple regression model including many control variables (age, gender, social status, educational and professional background, access to ICT, attitudes towards ICT, previous knowledge) was designed. The backward method was chosen in order to keep only the variables that contribute significantly to R2. The results show that two achievement goals and participation predict student performance. More specifically, we see a positive effect of performance-approach goals and mastery-avoidance goals. There was no effect of academic self-concept. The performance-approach goals correspond to the desire to be competent in relation to others and therefore refer to normative comparisons. This result would be a reflection of the higher education context in which they appear since competence can be defined in terms of relative ability and normative comparisons (Barron & Harackiewicz, 2003). In addition, student persistence is positively influenced by the adoption of performance-approach goals (Ferla et al., 2010). Mastery avoidance goals are goals adopted to avoid not mastering the task or regressing. It is possible that despite the insecurity of students who adopt these goals, they may remain focused on their learning objectives. Finally, this study shows that participation in online activities is a key consideration when designing blended courses.
