Engagement in Academic Work: The Role of Learning Goals, Future Consequences, Pleasing Others, and Perceived Ability

Engagement in academic work was viewed from a multiple goals perspective. Two studies were conducted in which high school math students completed an instrument measuring five goals students might have for doing academic work (learning goals, performance goals, obtaining future consequences, pleasing the teacher, and pleasing the family), perceived math ability, self-regulatory activities, strategies (deep or shallow) used when studying for math, and the amount of effort and persistence expended on the class. Factor analysis indicated that the five goals scales and the perceived ability scale represented unique factors. The correlations among the variables revealed theoretically consistent interrelationships. Multiple regression analyses indicated that various goals (e.g., learning goals, obtaining future consequences, and pleasing the teacher), perceived ability, and some interactions accounted for significant amounts of variance in the task engagement measures (self-regulation, strategy use, effort, and persistence) and achievement. Results are discussed in relation to current theory and their practical implications.     

Looking for inhibition of return in pigeons

We conducted four experiments in order to investigate whether pigeons' responses to a recently attended (i.e., recently pecked) location are inhibited. In Experiments 1 and 2, stimulus displays were similar to those used in studies of inhibition of return (IOR) with humans; responses to cued targets tended to be facilitated rather than inhibited. In Experiments 3 and 4, birds were presented with stimulus displays that mimicked clusters of small grains and were relatively localized, which should have been more appropriate for detecting IOR in pigeons. The results from these experiments again provided evidence for facilitation of responding to cued targets, rather than for IOR.     

Developing Mobile Based Instruction

This paper describes an instructional design class??s experience developing instruction for the mobile web. The class was taught at a southeastern university in the United States in a master??s level computer based instruction course. Two example projects are showcased and student reflections on design issues are highlighted. Additionally, challenges and lessons learned from this experience are described. This case study will benefit those who are considering teaching a course on designing mobile learning; also to those who are considering developing mobile instructional websites.     

User design: A case study on corporate change

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of implementing user design strategies within the corporate culture. Using a case study design approach, this article explores the change process within a Fortune 100 company in which users were given significant decision‐making powers. The main focus is on the unique nature of user design in a corporate environment where users become stakeholders in the process, a very different approach from the more typical top‐down management style. The study found that allowing users to design their own day‐to‐day processes gave them a sense of empowerment in their jobs because they could manage how they worked as long as they were meeting company goals. As a result, users were better able to manage their jobs, solve process‐related problems, and increase efficiency.     

Affective and associative qualities in the learning styles of Chicanos and Anglos

The role of affective and associative meaningfulness in the learning styles of Chicanos and Anglos was examined in the present study. Sixty-four Chicano and Anglo undergraduates were compared on their learning of affectively and associatively assessed consonant-vowel-consonant trigrams. Chicanos did not differ from Anglos in their reliance on the affective relative to the associative dimension of meaningfulness in their learning style. However, Chicanos differed significantly from Anglos in affective learning style, manifesting a greater propensity to learn their liked materials more readily than their disliked materials. It was further found that while the performance of the two ethnic groups was comparable in the disliked condition, the Chicano subjects performed significantly better than the Anglo subjects in the liked condition. It is suggested that the intensified Chicano sensitivity to affective meaningfulness is consistent with their cultural concerns.     

Relationships between family background problems and school problems and competencies of young normal children

Demographically matched groups of normal, nonreferred children who had, or had not, experienced one of four family background problems (lack of educational stimulation in the home, family pressures to succeed, economic difficulties, and general family problems) were compared on teacher ratings of school maladjustment and competencies. Children with each of these family problems had greater school difficulties and fewer resources than matched controls without such histories. Systematic relations, paralleling earlier findings with referred samples, were found between specific types of family and school problems. Thus, children from homes lacking educational stimulation had higher learning and acting-out problem scores than controls, and children under family pressure to succeed had higher anxiety ratings than controls. Some implications of these findings for prevention were considered.