The relationship between perceived instrumentality, interest and transformative experiences in online engineering

Heddy, Benjamin C.; Nelson, Katherine G.; Husman, Jenefer; Cheng, Kuan Chen; Goldman, Jacqueline; Chancey, John B.

doi:10.1080/01443410.2019.1600662

Cited by 8 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Our findings related to students valuing tasks that are relevant to their lives support the use of interventions prompting students to reflect on how course content is related to experiences in their own lives. This type of intervention was developed as part of an online engineering course by Heddy et al (2016), which resulted in increased value that students placed on course content. Motivational interventions have been used to enhance engineering student performance and foster interest in engineering by increasing their perceived instrumentality for the content they are learning.…”

Section: Implications For Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions of future careers for middle year engineering students

Spence

Kirn

Benson

2022

J of Engineering Edu

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Background One facet of motivation relevant to students' learning is their perceptions of the future, including future career goals and how those perceptions influence their present actions; this is collectively referred to as their future time perspective (FTP). Purpose/Hypothesis This study describes the different FTPs of engineering students. We aim to help researchers and practitioners leverage students' motivations to improve learning experiences and inform future studies by providing a model of engineering students' FTP. Design/Method A phenomenographic approach was used to determine students' different characteristic FTPs within the context of their engineering courses. Interviews with engineering students (n = 18) at a southeastern US research‐intensive university were analyzed for differences and similarities in their descriptions of their FTPs. Results Three groups emerged from the data that were visualized as different shapes within the outcome space. Cone, a long narrow shape, represents students who narrowed down their future careers deep into the future. Cup, a wider truncated cone, represents students who have conflicting desired and realistic future careers. Bowl, a short and wide shape, represents students who have broad perceptions of their future careers and do not describe how their future goals affect their present actions. Conclusions Using a phenomenographic approach to examine engineering students' FTPs revealed three characteristic groups and allowed us to document how different FTPs affect students' perceptions of tasks in their engineering courses. Our findings can help educators foster students' interest in and value of learning engineering concepts and their positive perceptions of their future careers.

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Section: Implications For Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions of future careers for middle year engineering students

Spence

Kirn

Benson

2022

J of Engineering Edu

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“…One method for generating positive affect in engineering content is to facilitate recognition of personal relevance to students' everyday experience (Guzey et al, 2016; Heddy et al, 2017; Shahali et al, 2016). Engineering can have a powerful influence on students' perceptions in their everyday lives (Heddy et al, 2021; Jonassen et al, 2006; Maltese et al, 2014; Patterson, 2019). One potential method to promote the application of engineering concepts to everyday experience is by teaching for transformative experience (Heddy et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Engineering can have a powerful influence on students' perceptions in their everyday lives (Heddy et al, 2021; Jonassen et al, 2006; Maltese et al, 2014; Patterson, 2019). One potential method to promote the application of engineering concepts to everyday experience is by teaching for transformative experience (Heddy et al, 2021). Transformative experience (TE) occurs when students apply what they learn in school to their everyday life in a way that enriches their experience (Pugh, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Everyday engineering: The effects of transformative experience in middle school engineering

Heddy

Danielson

Ross

et al. 2023

J of Engineering Edu

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Background: Promoting engagement and motivation in early engineering experiences is important for fostering interest and retention in engineering. One method that has been effective for doing so is facilitating transformative experiences (TEs), which occurs when students apply academic content to everyday experience. Our goal was to explore the effectiveness of an intervention to encourage TE, positive emotions, and interest in middle school engineering courses in two differentially resourced schools. Purpose/Hypothesis: We explored the effectiveness of using the video software Flipgrid as a supplement to a TE intervention to impact TE, emotions, and interest. In addition, we sought to model a theorized predictive relationship between TE, emotions, and interest. Design/Method: Two hundred seventy-four engineering students across two middle schools with differing levels of resources participated. A clusterrandomized pretest-posttest survey design was used to explore the variables of interest. ANOVA and SEM were implemented to investigate the research questions and hypotheses. Results: We found mixed results, with the intervention facilitating significantly more TEs and maintaining high levels of positive emotions in a school with access to fewer resources. Furthermore, in alignment with hypotheses about interest development (Renninger and Su, Oxford handbook of human motivation 2012; pp. 167-187), the results showed that initial positive and negative emotions predicted initial interest and post-TE. However, only postpositive emotions and post-TE predicted post-interest. Negative emotions after the intervention did not predict post-intervention interest. Conclusions:The findings have theoretical implications for interest development and practical implications for targeted interventions in early engineering education, especially for schools with access to fewer resources.

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“…Nevertheless, education leaders (Fischer et al, 2020;Fullan, 2020;Martin et al, 2020;Resing et al, 2020) warn that, even though technology affordances give unprecedented opportunities for revolutionary redesign of learning, education and collaboration, technology applications in instruction without good pedagogy or acknowledgement of learners' diverse backgrounds can do more harm than good. Four articles (Fiorella & Pilegard, 2020;Heddy et al, 2020;Jiang et al, 2020;Wang et al, 2020) in this issue highlight the importance of incorporating context (e.g., the presence/absence of seductive details in the learning materials in Wang et al, 2020) in technology-supported instructional designs. Further, in an era where digital technology is common practice in teaching and learning, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2019) identified social and emotional skills such as empathy and collaboration to be as important as cognitive skills in becoming responsible citizens, if not more so.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Grounded on previous research on the use, change, value (UCV) intervention in facilitating graduate students' transformative experiences, perceived instrumentality and interest for engineering courses taught in face-to-face mode, in the fourth article Heddy et al (2020) explore the impact of the intervention for the courses delivered in an online format, as well as the differential effect of perceived interest and interest on transformative experiences (a) between groups with or without UCV intervention and (b) between gender. The authors made use of a quasi-experimental design with students randomly allocated to the experimental (using UCV) and the comparison (traditional) groups, both measured pre-and post-intervention.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning, education and collaboration with the support of digital technology

Mok

2021

Educational Psychology

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Due to COVID-19, 2020 was a challenging year for many, including those within education. Indeed, the impact on the psychology of education was profound and far reaching. Abrupt changes in the learning environment worldwide, including the sudden lockdown of schools, involuntary switching from face-to-face to online instruction and the massive number of students having to cope with parents losing their jobs overnight or even deaths in the family, call for action-relevant research efforts from multiple educational and psychological perspectives in order to generate new knowledge to inform instructional design, assessment, evaluation and educational policies. Contributing to the scholarship on psychological aspects of education is the mission of this journal, Educational Psychology: An International Journal of Experimental Educational Psychology. Therefore, the journal presents high-quality empirical research that is relevant to, and extends the literature on, the promotion of learning and teaching across year levels from preschool to tertiary levels. The two special issues published in 2020, namely Civic Education for Alienated, Disaffected and Disadvantaged Students, and Technology-enhanced Learning and Assessment, are particularly pertinent in the current pandemic-stricken school context. A special issue on the educational psychology of learning, teaching and well-being during COVID-19 and beyond (Guest Editors Dr. Ronnel B. King and Professor Ching-Sing Chai) is scheduled for publication in 2022. A call for papers will be announced soon. Through these difficult times, it has been immensely heartening to witness the comradeship of the educational psychology community in extending our knowledge boundary. Despite challenges in 2020, the journal successfully published Volume 40, composed of 10 issues, including two special issues, and the impact factor of the journal rose to 1.586. Included in the 10 issues of Volume 40 were 67 empirical studies by 217 distinguished international scholars from 88 universities/institutes of 27 countries and economies. Each of these studies carries significant messages that inspire and inform policy, research and instructional practice. The success of the journal is the result of a concerted effort from the editorial team, comprising 162 eminent scholars offering generous and gratuitous support in the leadership roles of the Advisory Board, Associate Editors and Consulting Editors. We are particularly grateful to the 248 highly proficient and dedicated pro bono anonymous reviewers from 137 universities and 33 countries. Their expert critiques and advice strengthened the articles remarkably. The current issue, Volume 41 Issue 1, comprising reports on six outstanding empirical studies, is further proof of our continuing commitment to advancing the field of educational psychology. Participants of the six studies reported here were students in higher education from China, Cuba, the Netherlands and the USA. These studies share in common their focus on solid grounding on theories, strong rat...

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The relationship between perceived instrumentality, interest and transformative experiences in online engineering

Cited by 8 publications

References 35 publications

Perceptions of future careers for middle year engineering students

Perceptions of future careers for middle year engineering students

Everyday engineering: The effects of transformative experience in middle school engineering

Learning, education and collaboration with the support of digital technology

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