Blended Synchronous Classrooms (BSCs) demonstrate advantages in advancing educational equity. However, few studies have focused on Q&A interactions in BSCs. Unlike traditional single-class settings, BSCs require teachers to simultaneously manage interactions with students from two classes. To address the gap, this study proposed a coding framework for Q&A behaviors grounded in the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy. This study analyzed 40 BSC lessons using various learning analytics methods, including Lag Sequential Analysis, Social Network Analysis, and K-Means Clustering Algorithm. The data analysis yielded the following results: (1) Q&A participants: Teachers prioritized interactions with the students in their own classes. (2) Cognitive levels: Most interactions remained at the Understanding level. (3) Transition patterns: Urban teachers exhibited sequential, logic-driven questioning progressions, whereas rural teachers displayed fragmented transitions confined to Understanding-level loops with weak high-low cognitive linkages. (4) Key Q&A behaviors: Urban teachers demonstrated the use of question categories at higher cognitive levels, while rural teachers only used question categories at lower cognitive level. This exploratory study represented a systematic investigation into the quality of teacher-student Q&A behaviors within the urban-rural BSCs context. Finally, the study proposes actionable strategies for optimizing BSCs' Q&A design and enhancing dialogic teaching quality in distance educational environments.
Learning engagement is a crucial factor influencing the outcomes of rural teachers' (RTs) online learning. Previous studies have revealed a link between instructional context factors, individual factors, and learning engagement, yet the influence mechanisms of these factors on its different dimensions remain underexplored. Therefore, this study attempts to explore the multiple concurrent pathways through which individual and instructional context factors affect RTs' learning engagement by using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). A total of 116 RTs engaged in online learning in China participated in the study. The results indicate that: (1) instructional support (IS) is an auxiliary necessary condition influencing learning engagement, while peer support (PS) is a core necessary condition. (2) multiple pathways can lead to the same learning engagement outcomes, challenging the traditional concept of a single optimal path derived from conventional analytical methods. (3) configurations of good and poor conditions for the three factors of learning engagement exhibit asymmetry. For example, high levels of IS and PS exist in configurations leading to both high and low levels of emotional and cognitive engagement, depending on how other conditions are combined.
