Teacher-student interaction and self-regulated learning in online higher education: a grounded theory model of interaction convertibility

Abstract

Online higher education places greater demands on students’ self-regulation while making instructional support increasingly dependent on digitally mediated interaction. Although teacher–student interaction has been associated with self-regulated learning (SRL), less is known about how interaction becomes incorporated into students’ regulatory processes. Using a Straussian grounded theory approach, this study examined the online learning experiences of 30 Chinese university students through semi-structured interviews conducted between April and May 2025. A relational model was developed through the analysis of 24 interviews, followed by six additional interviews used to assess theoretical saturation. Online learning conditions shaped opportunities for regulatory coupling. Interaction supported SRL when interactional input was recognized, taken up, and translated into changes in attention, understanding, strategy, or subsequent action. Resource mobilization, monitoring and reflection, and environment, time, and task management further helped stabilize this coupling across learning phases. The study develops the concept of interaction convertibility to explain how teacher–student interaction becomes, or fails to become, a usable regulatory resource in online higher education.