The effects of collaborative concept mapping on self-regulated learning strategies and academic achievement in a flipped educational psychology course: a quasi-experimental study

Flipped classroom instruction has been widely adopted in higher education. However, students with underdeveloped self-regulated learning skills frequently struggle with pre-class demands, limiting the effectiveness of this approach. Collaborative concept mapping has been recognized as a strategy that supports cognitive and metacognitive processes, but empirical evidence on its integration into flipped classroom contexts remains limited. A quasi-experimental pre-test-post-test design was employed with 112 s-year undergraduate students enrolled in an Educational Psychology course at a private university in China. The experimental group ( n = 63) received collaborative concept mapping integrated into flipped classroom instruction (CCM-FC), whereas the control group ( n = 49) received conventional flipped classroom instruction. Academic achievement was measured using two parallel knowledge tests, and self-regulated learning strategies (SRLS) were assessed using an adapted version of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. Supplementary qualitative feedback was also collected at post-test. The experimental group had significantly higher academic achievement scores and reported significantly higher overall SRLS use than the control group. At the dimensional level, students in the experimental group reported significantly higher cognitive and metacognitive strategy use, whereas no significant group difference was observed in resource management strategies. Qualitative feedback indicated that most students perceived the CCM-FC approach as helpful for understanding, organizing, and reviewing course content, although some reported practical and collaborative challenges. After controlling for pre-test scores, the findings showed higher academic achievement and overall SRLS scores in the CCM-FC group than the conventional flipped classroom group. In particular, students in the CCM-FC group reported higher use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies. These findings offer practical implications for instructional design in similar content-intensive courses requiring structured knowledge organization and self-regulation support.