This study extends the community of inquiry (CoI) framework and empowerment theory by exploring the relationships between motivational variables, CoI variables, learning presence, and empowerment. We added motivational beliefs (growth mindset, self-efficacy, and task value) as associated variables and learning presence (online self-regulation) as a mediator and examined their contribution to students' cognitive presence and empowerment. The participants were 539 junior middle-school students in rural China who had acquired significant online learning experience as a result of the COVID-19 pand...