The Trajectory of Situational Interest in an Online Learning Session

• In Event: 61.032 - When Rubber Meets the Road: How Interest Shapes Learners' Interactions With Content

Abstract

Purpose and Theoretical Framework
This research investigates the interplay between individual interest and the developing trajectory of situational interest as students interact with two tasks in an online learning session.

When students come to an online learning session they respond to both the session and the tasks they encounter. In this research we use the self-directed learning (SDL) perspective on motivation for learning sessions (Garrison, 1997) and the self-regulated learning perspective (SRL) focusing on task processing (Pintrich, 1999). Nenniger (2011) suggests that together SDL and SRL represent “autonomous” learning. Both SDL and SRL include interest as key motivational processes and our focus is interest processes in relation to the learning session and the tasks forming the learning experience.

Students come to a learning session with their own level of individual interest; a predisposition to engage with learning content (Hidi & Renninger, 2006), and this impacts situational interest in the session as well as situational interest for specific tasks. Working with tasks as the session develops has the potential to influence how situational interest for both session and tasks is maintained. We have monitored the trajectory of situational interest for session and tasks in order to increase understanding of both SDL and SRL processing in online learning environments.

Method and Sources of Data
Participants were 110 first-year psychology undergraduate students (82% female) with a mean age of 19.87 (SD=4.35) years who participated as part of a research experience program. The online guided learning session consisted of two tasks where students had 10 minutes to answer questions about a psychology experiment and its ethics implications and could consult two online texts. Three questionnaires adapted from Harackiewicz et al. (1997) assessed students’ individual interest in psychology and situational interest on commencement of each task and as maintained across session and tasks, reported at the outset, one between task 1 and 2, and at the end of task 2.

Results and Scholarly Significance
Using structural equation modeling (SEM, AMOS) we examined the relations between the measures of individual and situational interest. A model linking individual interest and situational interest for both session and tasks had an acceptable fit (e.g., CFI=.99, RMSEA=.07), and will be presented.

The findings indicate that individual interest contributed to situational interest at the entering point for both session and task 1, and to situational interest for the session as maintained at the end of task 1. A network of significant relations linked situational interest as maintained across the two tasks with its maintenance across the session.

These findings suggest that students’ individual interest contributes to their situational interest in an online learning session. However, as the study session develops, situational interest becomes more a function of students’ interaction with the tasks. These findings will be discussed in terms of how students’ interaction with task content influences their continuing interest in the learning environment and what this means for models of SDL and SRL.

Authors

• Paula de Barba

• Mary D. Ainley, University of Melbourne

• Gregor Kennedy, The University of Melbourne