Interventions Gone Wild: Achievement Effects of Online Control- and Value-Enhancing Programs for First-Year Students

• In Event: 68.050 - Motivation and Emotion in Achievement Contexts

Abstract

Despite the ubiquity of internet and mobile technology for delivering course content and providing student services in post-secondary education, there exists little research on theory-based motivational programs for undergraduates as administered online. Following from existing research on classroom-based value- and control-enhancing motivational programs, the present experimental study examined the effects of 8 theory-specific, combined, and staggered interventions over the course of an academic year on sessional GPA in first-year college students. A 9 x 3 ANCOVA analysis showed low/medium-performing students to perform better following control- or value-enhancing interventions early in the year, with the combined program proving most effective in the second semester. Overall, findings underscore the potential long-term achievement benefits of brief online motivational interventions for first-year college students.

Authors

• Nathan C. Hall, McGill University

• Kyle Adam Hubbard, McGill University

• Leslie Copeland, McGill University