Factors affecting student learning performance: A causal model in higher blended education

In Mexico, approximately 504,000 students pursue a bachelor's degree by means of distance or blended programmes. However, only 42% of these students conclude their degree on time. In the context of blended learning, the focus of this research is to present a causal model, based on a theoretical framework, which describes the relationships concerning motivations, emotions, cognitive strategies, metacognitive strategies, and learning strategies, and their impact on learning performance. The results suggest that negative emotions play a meaningful role between expectancy (a component of motivation) and learning strategies. Also, the expectancy component of motivation positively influences metacognitive strategies. Concerning the relationship between cognition and metacognition, metacognitive strategies take preference concerning the relationship between metacognitive and learning strategies, supporting the theoretical hypothesis that metacognitive processes are on a higher plane than cognition, and affect cognitive process directly. Moreover, the learning outcomes are directly influenced by cognitive and learning strategies, but not by metacognitive ones. Similarly, motivation has direct effects on metacognitive and learning strategies but not on cognitive ones. Lay Description What is currently known about the subject matter: Several studies describe separately the causal relationships among motivation, emotions, cognition, metacognition, and learning performance in various learning contexts (mainly in distance and face‐to‐face learning). Although the fuzzy boundaries of metacognition have been recognized and a well‐sounded definition has been established, the theoretical relations with motivation, emotions, and cognition have barely been confirmed. What this paper adds to this: From the systems theory point of view, motivation, emotions, cognition, and metacognition are emergent subsystems of the human mind. Thus, studying each of them separately cuts off the relationships that conform the whole system and gives us a limited view of it. This integrating idea is depicted in a causal model, based on a theoretical framework, which describes the relationships among motivations, emotions, cognitive strategies, metacognitive strategies, and learning strategies, and their impact on learning performance. This research offers practical evidence that supports the theoretical relation between motivation and metacognition. The implications of study findings for practit