Comparative analysis of students’ learning satisfaction and gains: special blended synchronous versus traditional classrooms in rural schools

Information technology has been increasingly leveraged to promote educational equity in less-developed regions. In China, the blended synchronous classroom (BSC) enables high-quality teachers to simultaneously instruct students in their own classrooms and those in remote weak schools, thereby addressing the shortage of specialized teachers in rural areas. This study examines an optimized variant—the special blended synchronous classroom (SBSC) environment—in which a single specialized teacher delivers Music and Art instruction to students in two or three rural primary schools simultaneously, with each remote classroom supported by an auxiliary teacher. Employing a quasi-experimental design, this study investigates the factors influencing students’ learning satisfaction in both the SBSC and traditional face-to-face (TFTF) environments, and compares students’ learning gains in Music and Art courses between the two settings. Data were collected from 824 Grade 2 and Grade 3 students via questionnaires and analyzed using SPSS 22.0 and SmartPLS 3.0. The results reveal that, in both environments, learning motivation and learning strategies significantly predicted learning satisfaction, whereas learning attitude did not. Regarding learning gains, SBSC students achieved significantly higher learning gains in singing, music theory, painting, sketching and composition, and handicraft compared with their TFTF peers, whereas no significant difference was found in musical instrument performance. This study contributes to the design of technology-enhanced classroom environments that expand access to high-quality Music and Art education in rural primary schools, offering empirical evidence for educational equity initiatives.