Making connections: Replicating and extending the utility value intervention in the classroom.

Abstract

We replicated and extended prior research investigating a theoretically guided intervention based on expectancy-value theory designed to enhance student learning outcomes (e.g., Hulleman & Harackiewicz, 2009). First, we replicated prior work by demonstrating that the utility value intervention, which manipulated whether students made connections between the course material and their lives, increased both interest and performance of low-performing students in a college general education course. Second, we extended prior research by both measuring and manipulating one possible pathway of intervention effects: the frequency with which students make connections between the material and their lives. In Study 1, we measured connection frequency and found that making more connections was positively related to expecting to do well in the course, valuing the course material, and continuing interest. In Study 2, we manipulated connection frequency by developing an enhanced utility value intervention designed to increase the frequency with which students made connections. The results indicated that students randomly assigned to either utility value intervention, compared with the control condition, subsequently became more confident that they could learn the material, which led to increased course performance. The utility value interventions were particularly effective for the lowest-performing students. Compared with those in the control condition who showed a steady decline in performance across the semester, low-performing male students randomly assigned to the utility value conditions increased their performance across the semester. The difference between the utility value and control conditions for lowperforming male students was strongest on the final exam (d ϭ .76).

Improving Student Outcomes in Higher Education: The Science of Targeted Intervention

“…Another study, conducted in two large sections of an introductory psychology course, found that the utility-value intervention increased final exam scores and interest in psychology for all students on average and for students who performed poorly on initial exams in particular (Hulleman et al 2017). In addition, they found that the utility-value intervention had the strongest positive effects for the students who were most at risk in this context, males who performed poorly on initial exams.…”

“…Hulleman and colleagues’ (2010, 2017) work in large introductory psychology courses demonstrates that the utility-value intervention can be effective for struggling students, including groups of students who tend to underperform. This raises the possibility that the utility-value intervention can address achievement gaps.…”

“…Many studies of course-specific task value interventions also found effects on field-level outcomes, such as interest in the field (Hulleman et al 2017), intention to major in the field (Hulleman et al 2010), retention in a STEM major, or course taking in a field (Canning et al 2018). In addition, some task value interventions targeted field-level outcomes directly.…”

“…A consistent pattern of results has emerged across a variety of contexts and modes of intervention delivery; these interventions have proven most effective for students who struggle in courses. However, there is also evidence of main effects in almost all of these studies; in other words, some utility-value interventions have had positive effects for all students on average (Harackiewicz et al 2012, 2016a; Brown et al 2015; Canning et al 2018; Hulleman et al 2017), and it will be important to clarify when and why task value interventions should work for all students versus only for those who struggle (Schwartz et al 2016). Careful attention has been paid in these studies to targeted motivational processes in these studies, with evidence for mediation of intervention effects by the targeted process of perceived utility value and other processes such as positive expectancies and engagement.…”

A Spanish Version of the Achievement Task Value Scale for University Students: Internal, Convergent, and Criterion Validity and Reliability in Argentinian Students

“…From the Expectancy-Value Theory, it is proposed that the environment's efforts to influence task value will have an effect on students' achievements (Atkinson, 1957;Eccles et al, 1983;Wigfield, 1994;Wigfield & Eccles, 1992). In this sense, several interventions have shown its positive effects on the task value perceived by individuals (Harackiewicz, Rozek, Hulleman, & Hyde, 2012;Hulleman, Godes, Hendricks, & Harackiewicz, 2010;Hulleman & Harackiewicz, 2009;Hulleman, Kosovich, Barron, & Daniel, 2016;Lee Johnson & Sinatra, 2013;Pang, 2014;Rozek, Hyde, Svoboda, Hulleman, & Harackiewicz, 2014;Schukajlow et al, 2012).…”