This study explored the readiness of teachers to learn about learning and teaching supportive modes of ICT use with the lens of the Unified Model of Task-specific Motivation (UMTM). According to... Show moreThis study explored the readiness of teachers to learn about learning and teaching supportive modes of ICT use with the lens of the Unified Model of Task-specific Motivation (UMTM). According to the UMTM readiness for action is driven by feelings of activities and thoughts about the value of consequences of activities, which both can be positive and negative, and which in turn are influenced by aspects of autonomy and competence, by social relatedness, and by subjective norm. The twofold goal of this study was to test the merits of the model in general and for ICT integration in education in particular. A sample of 282 teachers provided answers about different aspects of their motivation to learn about the two types of ICT use. There were some differences between these two types of learning activities, but for both, thoughts about the value of the consequences of the activities were more important than feelings about them. Furthermore, although sense of competence was relatively more important for leaning about learning supportive ICT use than for learning about teaching supportive ICT use, teachers’ sense of autonomy, a variable that is completely ignored in research on ICT integration, was in general far more important for learning about ICT use than sense of competence. Show less
The thesis presents an exploration of the relationships between students’ motivation, represented by students’ personal goals, and the quality of cooperative learning (CL) processes of first and... Show moreThe thesis presents an exploration of the relationships between students’ motivation, represented by students’ personal goals, and the quality of cooperative learning (CL) processes of first and second year students, enrolled in secondary vocational schools. Special attention has been paid to contextual factors and their influence on the quality of CL, and to differences between students that are related to their gender, program type and ethnocultural background. Students’ goal preferences contributed just weakly to the explanation of the quality of CL, whereas students’ perceptions on contextual factors were important predictors. With regard to students’ goals, social support and mastery goals were most vital in predicting the quality of CL. Especially the extent that students were taught the appropriate knowledge, skills and rules for CL was found to be a crucial -and lasting- precondition for successful CL. Also the social climate in the classroom was important. Moreover, gender, program type and ethnocultural background had no direct effect on the quality of CL. Show less
