Exploring the Relationship Between College Students' Value Beliefs and Achievement Goals in Using Open Educational Resources

• In Event: Open Education: Empirical Evidence on Innovations Across Disciplines

Abstract

Background. College students spend increasing expenditures on textbooks, but those who cannot afford textbooks may not learn effectively (Read et al., 2020). Open educational resources (OER) can be a low-cost alternative to traditional textbooks with no harm to student learning achievement (Hilton, 2020; Wiley & Hilton, 2018). Advocating OER thus seems a promising solution to combat the rise of cost in higher education. To this end, understanding students’ motivation about using OER in their courses is critical, yet scarce.
Aim. This study aimed to investigate students’ motivation about using OER, through the lens of achievement goal theory (Elliot & McGregor, 2001) and expectancy-value theory (Eccles & Wigfield, 1995). Achievement goal theory postulates two dimensions of individual goals towards achievement behaviors, competence (mastery versus performance) and valence (approach versus avoidance). Expectancy-value theory suggests achievement behaviors hinge upon the interplay between one’s beliefs about their competence and perceived value of the tasks. Task value belief, a construct that describes individuals’ perceived importance and usefulness of a task for their goals, is a predictor of individual intention of performing the task as well as their subsequent task performance (Eccles & Wigfield, 1995). For this study, we focused on two of the most significant value components: intrinsic value (i.e., the enjoyment acquired from performing an activity) and cost value (i.e., the amount of time/effort invested to perform a task) (Flake et al., 2015; Guo et al., 2015).
Methods. A convenience sampling method was used to recruit college students taking an OER-based education course at a public university. A total of 247 education-major students responded to instruments which included an expectancy-value scale (Trautwein et al., 2012), a 2×2 achievement goal questionnaire (Elliot & McGregor, 2001) and demographic items. A structural equation model analysis was performed to understand how task value beliefs (e.g., intrinsic and cost value) predicted the four types of achievement goals.
Results. A confirmatory factor analysis was performed to validate the model fit. The results revealed a good fit for the model, Chi-square to the degree of freedom (χ2/df=2.68<5.0), comparative fit index (CFI=0.95>0.9), a Tucker–Lewis index (TL=0.93>0.9), and a root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA=0.06<0.08) (Bentler, 1990). All the paths between intrinsic values and approach goals were significant at p<.05. The path between cost values and mastery-avoidance goals is significant at p<.05.
Significance. This proposal endeavored to fill the gap in empirical evidence about student motivation towards OER. Based on expectancy-valence theory and achievement goal theory, this study found intrinsic value beliefs predicted student’s mastery- and performance- approach goals, highlighting the importance of cultivating college students’ interests in using OER. Further, cost values predicted students’ mastery-avoidance goals, echoing prior findings (Bong, 2001). College students’ estimated amount of effort and time invested in using OER positively related to their goals about avoiding failure or misunderstanding in this course, suggesting the potential detrimental effect of perceived high costs of OER on students’ achievement goals.

Author

• Hengtao Tang, University of South Carolina
  Presenting Author