Abstract: Blended teaching, a new teaching model that integrates network technology with traditional face-to-face teaching, has gradually developed into a new typical teaching method in higher education. However, the complexity of elements in the blended teaching environment and the diversity of the learning environment have created significant challenges for improving blended teaching. Cognitive engagement refers to learners’ mental efforts and the degree to which cognitive strategies are applied, which is the critical factor affecting learning performance in blended teaching. Improving students’ cognitive engagement is essential for advancing blended teaching and achieving an optimal effect. However, cognitive engagement has increased the difficulty of measurement and intervention because of its implicit nature. Furthermore, problems such as solid subjectivity and single modes in past evaluation methods make it challenging to clarify students’ cognitive engagement. A blended classroom has the unique characteristics of complex elements and diverse learning contexts, and the method of measuring students’ cognitive engagement differs from that used in a single teaching environment. In addition, the internal connection based on knowledge experience between the individual online and offline learning processes cannot be ignored. Students have specific knowledge preparation when they enter the offline classroom.
Our aim is to improve students’ cognitive engagement in blended classrooms. First, it was necessary to establish a scientific measurement index system of students’ cognitive engagement. The blended classroom stage (i.e., online or offline) and process (i.e., the internal connection of knowledge in online self-learning and subsequent offline face-to-face learning) are considered to establish effective strategies for improving cognitive engagement. The practical goal is to develop appropriate teaching strategies and a digital teaching tool to improve students’ cognitive engagement in actual blended classrooms.
Specifically, in Study 1, a quantitative representation model of cognitive engagement in a blended classroom will be constructed by collecting multimodal data of learners in actual blended classrooms at different stages and integrating text and video analyses, eye tracking and psychometric indicators. Grey relational analysis and the entropy method will be used to calculate the weights of the evaluation index system. Study 2 will explore strategies for improving students’ cognitive engagement in blended classrooms from the perspectives of learning resources and instructional strategies. A series of empirical studies will be carried out to identify strategies for improving learners’ cognitive engagement in online, offline, and blended classroom processes. The roles of learning resources and generative learning strategies will be investigated in the online stage. Based on the process perspective of the internal connection between online self-learning and offline face-to-face learning stages, we will explore how to combine student problem-generating and teacher problem-scaffolding strategies effectively. We will also learn how to provide teacher feedback to learners with different cognitive levels. The effects of teacher feedback and student reflection on cognitive engagement will be investigated in an offline classroom setting. Thus, practical strategies for improving cognitive engagement can be developed according to the gold standard from empirical research. In Study 3, the effective teaching strategies proposed in the second study will be verified by tracking them in an actual blended classroom. Simultaneously, collaborative changes in instructional strategies and students’ cognitive structures can be obtained through a longitudinal cognitive network analysis, which will help form empirical evidence in the teaching environment. For Study 4, based on the research above, using multimodal data in the blended classroom and applying the neural network algorithm, we will establish a cognitive engagement classifier. By combining the trigger mechanism of instructional intervention strategies and classifier, the study will form a teaching assistant tool with the function of cognitive engagement identification and intervention strategy reminders in the blended classroom. We intend to utilize the cross-integration of information technology and empirical and applied research in educational psychology to realize an effective combination of scientific research and practical applications in blended teaching.

Key words: blended classroom, cognitive engagement, multi-modal measurement indices, intervention strategies