Teachers’ Use of Digital Learning Materials: Self-Determination Theory and the Integrative Model for Behavior Prediction

• In Event: Research on Factors Influencing Teachers’ Use of Information and Communication Technologies

Abstract

Wikiwijs is a Dutch initiative to promote the use, development, and sharing of Digital Learning
Materials (DLMs) by teachers. However, research on teachers’ use of ICT has revealed that teachers
are reluctant to use it in their pedagogical practices. It is, therefore, not unlikely that the same problem will arise with DLMs because DLMs are require the application of ICT. This, in turn, means the undermining of the potential success of Wikiwijs and similar initiatives. For this reason, from policy,practice and science there is a need to understand and learn more about models that predict the use of DLM’s by teachers in the classroom. In this paper we report a study that investigates the motivational and dispositional variables that determine teachers’ intention to use DLMs using the model of Hagger, Chatzisarantis, and Harris (2006).

Our study addresses the questions whether 1) to what extent teachers’ intention to use DLMs is
determined by attitude, perceived norm, and self-efficacy, and whether 2) the model of Hagger,
Chatzisarantis, and Harris (2006) is valid for the case of teachers’ use of DLMs. The model combines
Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000) and Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB; Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010) according Vallerand’s (1997) proposal to distinguish between global level psychological needs, contextual-level and situational level constructs.

A questionnaire was developed that, amongst others, contained SDT measures for the basic
psychological needs variables (i.e., competence, autonomy, and relatedness) and locus of causality
(i.e., amotivation, extrinsic, introjected, identified and intrinsic regulation) as well as TPB measures for the dispositional variables (i.e., attitude, perceived norm, and self-efficacy). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the relationships between the latent variables.

The questionnaire was administered electronically in January 2011 to teachers of primary and
secondary schools and to schools for vocational education in the Netherlands; N = 1273 (485 men and 788 women).

Our preliminary analyses supported the findings of Hagger et al.’s (ibid) model except for the
relationship between self-efficacy and intention. Hagger et al.’s model fitted the data well (χ2(420,
N = 1273) = 2037.5, p < .01; GFI = .90, CFI = .958. RMSEA = .055). A considerable part of the
variance in intention (R2 = .29, p < .01) was explained by the dispositional variables. Attitude was the strongest predictor ( = .51, p < .01) whereas subjective norm ( = .08, p < .01) and self-efficacy ( = .06, p < .05) had a modest contribution. The relationships between self-determination motivation and attitude ( = .75, p < .01) and between self-determination motivation and self-efficacy ( = .58,p < .01) were strong whereas the relationship between self-determination motivation and subjected norm was not significant ( = -.05, non-significant).

The combined model of Hagger et al. (ibid) potentially provides us with a more comprehensive
explanation of teachers’ volitional behavior regarding their use of DLMs in their pedagogical
practices than would be possible on the bases of SDT or IMBP alone.

Authors

• Karel Kreijns, Open Universiteit Nederland

• Marjan Vermeulen, The Open University of the Netherlands

• Frederik Van Acker, Open Universiteit Nederland