College students’ identity differences in offline and online learning environment and their effects on achievement motivation

The unprecedented evolution of educational technologies has transformed the learning landscape, creating distinct experiences in offline and online learning environments (OLE). However, little attention has been given to exploring students’ identities in the online learning context and how they can influence academic trajectories, limiting the development of a holistic understanding of the nature, effects, and areas of improvement in students’ identity formation in OLE. This study aims to investigate how students’ identity subcomponents differ among offline and OLE students via propensity score matching (PSM) in China, which allows us to find a doppelganger to estimate the counterfactual situation for making causal inferences in tandem with averting selection bias. Then, the study further examines how students’ identities affect motivation for learning achievement through OLS regression. PSM results indicate that goal-directedness, interpersonal relation, and self-acceptance were lower in students’ identity construction in OLE. Besides, all students achievement motivation shows that agency positively affects all students. Regarding the online learning environment, students’ agency and proactivity show negative effects on motivation. In contrast, goal-directedness indicates positive effects compared to the offline course students. Reflecting on these findings, this study offers instructional and online technology development implications.