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Temple University Center for Research
in Human Development and Education |
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The role of technology in achievement beliefs is a promising
direction for motivational research and educational
practice. By varying instructional tasks and curricular
methods, educators may have a means to influence the
formation of students' achievement beliefs, which were
previously thought to be individual aspects of personality.
For example, teachers who purposefully offer diverse
opportunities for students to experience academic success
and develop new skills may help shape individuals'
motivational beliefs, which may facilitate longer-term
effects on academic achievement. As teachers continue to
integrate technologies into instruction, the possibilities
for change in learning behaviors and educational practice
will emerge.
The
influence of technology on achievement beliefs is a new line
of inquiry in the motivation field. Recently, a study of
adolescents' beliefs was conducted in an urban high school
where the teacher was integrating educational technology
(Christie, 2001). The central finding was that students
organize motivational beliefs around the details of
instruction. For example, in discussing beliefs about
learning and intelligence, some students implicated the
textbook as a limiting factor in their intelligence, citing
the passive nature of textbooks as compared to the hands-on
experiential nature of technology (Christie & Bempechat,
2002).
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In addition, all students defined the
meaning of academic success as "knowing the answer" and the
meaning of academic failure as "not knowing the answer."
However, when given opportunities to explore content in a
computer-based learning environment, some students began to
construct new definitions of learning and academic success:
"When I am makin' mistakes I am learning." Students
associated particular skills or learning strategies with
their meanings of success. Interestingly, it was the
relative lower achievers in the class who made these subtle
distinctions. The idea that the lower achievers
differentiate meanings of academic success across
instructional contexts is inspiring. These are the very
students who can benefit most from new and diverse success
experiences.
The effectiveness of educational technologies can be
observed in classrooms every day. Through heightened
sensitivity to students' learning behaviors, teachers will
instinctively come to know this effectiveness when they see
it. Undoubtedly, students will continue to raise awareness
of extraordinary changes that, with support, may become
ordinary in their academic lives.*
References
Anderman, E., & Maehr, M. L. (1994). Motivation and
schooling in the middle grades. Review of Educational
Research, 64(2), 287-309.
Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow [ACOT]. (1995). Changing the
conversation about teaching, learning, and technology: A
report on ten years of ACOT research. Cupertino, CA:
Apple Computer.
Bempechat, J., London, P., & Dweck, C. (1991). Conceptions
of ability in major domains: An interview and experimental
study. Child Study Journal, 21, 11-36.
Christie, M. (1999, April 20). "We understood it more
'cause we were doin' it ourself": Students self-described
connections between participation and learning. Paper
presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational
Research Association (AERA), Montreal, Canada.
Christie, M. (2001). Portraits of achievement beliefs: An
exploratory dialogue between urban high school students and
the achievement motivation literature. Unpublished
Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University.
Christie, M., & Bempechat, J. (2002). Constructing the
meaning of intelligence. Unpublished manuscript.
Collins, A. (1990). The role of computer technology in
restructuring schools. In K. Sheingold & M. S. Tucker
(Eds.), Restructuring for learning with technology.
New York, NY: Center for Technology in Education, Bank
Street College of Education; and Rochester, NY: National
Center on Education and the Economy.
Deci, E., & Ryan, R. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and
self-determination in human behavior. New York, NY:
Academic Press.
Means, B., & Olson, K. (1994). Tomorrow's schools:
Technology and reform in partnership. In B. Means (Ed.),
Technology and education reform: The reality behind the
promise (pp. 191-222). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
Publications.
Roschelle, J. M., Pea, R. D., Hoadley, C. M., Gordin, D. N.,
& Means, B. M. (2000). Changing how and what children learn
in school with computer-based technologies. Children and
Computer Technology, 10(2), 76-101. Retrieved October 4,
2002, from
http://www.futureofchildren.org
*Mary Ann Christie is a research psychologist at The
Concord Consortium and an assistant professor of Education
and Technology at Lesley University's School of Education in
Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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Copyright 2001 © MARTEC
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