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Open Access Publications from the University of California

Scholarly Works (7 results)

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UC Irvine Electronic Theses and Dissertations (2019)

Online courses have been heralded as efficient and cost-effective higher education solutions, but have negative associations with student learning and retention. In light of online learning’s increasing prevalence, yet disappointing outcomes, it is imperative to investigate which features of online courses may be contributing to disparities in student performance. In this dissertation, I focus on a critical, yet understudied predictor of performance in online courses: motivation. I use Expectancy-Value Theory to investigate how motivation impacts who decides to take online courses, how motivation is affected by online courses, and how motivation can be improved within online courses. In my first study, I find that students select into online courses largely due to the need for flexibility, and that motivational, behavioral, and performance differences between OL and F2F students become more apparent once students are grouped by their reasons for selecting into an OL course. In my second study, I identify that by increasing the transactional distance between students, asynchronous online courses degrade belonging, increasing social uncertainty around classmates and a perceived lack of access to the instructor. Furthermore, interview data suggest that students conceptualize belonging differently across contexts, and that quantitative measures designed to measure school belonging may produce misleading results when adapted to the classroom level. In my final study, I address a gap in the theory behind the popular utility value intervention (UVI): the behavioral mechanisms linking greater motivation to greater performance. I was able to utilize click data to discover behaviors that are associated with both motivation and course performance, finding that motivated click behavior (i.e., interest) is best identified by the patterns of spacing one’s engagement with the course across many days, especially days not surrounding course deadlines. I identify lingering questions about the directionality in the strengthening association between motivation and engaged behavior over time, discussing their implications for future intervention work. Overall, this study uses motivational theory to improve performance in online courses, and online course performance to inform motivational theory, demonstrating the potential for a symbiotic relationship between the fields of online learning and motivation.

    Cover page: Motivation for and within Online College Courses
    • Article
    • Peer Reviewed
    UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2018)
    A variable and person-centered approach was applied to understand the development of cross domain self-concepts of ability, patterns of math and English self-concepts of ability throughout adolescence, and their associations with college major. An expectancy-value perspective was integrated with dimensional comparison theory to understand how math and English self-concepts of ability relate to one another over time and within a person. Regression analysis identified a positive association of math self-concept throughout adolescence with math-related majors and a negative association of English self-concept with math-related majors. Cluster analysis classified students into six to seven patterns of varying math and English self-concepts of ability. Stereotypical gender differences were observed in cluster membership, with women overrepresented in high English clusters and males over represented in high math clusters. Cluster membership was predictive of the math-related college majors. Students who were higher in math self concept of ability relative to English were overrepresented in math intensive majors. Findings support the importance of considering intraindividual hierarchies and ipsative relationships when studying the development of self-concept of ability and academic choices.
      Cover page: Patterns of math and English self-concepts as motivation for college major selection
      • Article
      • Peer Reviewed
      UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2022)
      Universities are increasingly using learning communities (LCs) to promote the academic and social integration of entering students, especially within STEM majors. Examining the causal effect of LCs on student networks is necessary to understand the nature and scope of their impact. This study combines a regression discontinuity design with social network analysis to estimate the effect of a simple LC design on the size, strength, structure, and composition of friendship networks among students within the same biological sciences freshman cohort. Results of the quasi-experimental analysis indicate that LC participants acquired one additional friend in the major and increased their share of friends in the LC by 54 percentage-points. Exponential random-graph models that test mediation and alternative friendship mechanisms provide support for the theoretical argument that the LC promoted friendship development by structuring opportunities for interaction through block-registration into courses. Thus, this study shows that even simple LCs can shape the development of friendships through relatively low-cost administrative means. The increased access to resources and support facilitated by the LC is likely beneficial for participating students. However, there is a potential downside when eligibility for participation is determined using academic metrics that separate the student population into distinct classroom environments.
        Cover page: STEM learning communities promote friendships but risk academic segmentationCreative Commons 'BY' version 4.0 license
        • Article
        • Peer Reviewed
        UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2022)
        The importance of online learning in higher education settings is growing, not only in wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, metrics to evaluate and increase the quality of online instruction are crucial for improving student learning. Whereas instructional quality is traditionally evaluated with course observations or student evaluations, course syllabi offer a novel approach to predict course quality even prior to the first day of classes. This study develops an online course design characteristics rubric for science course syllabi. Utilizing content analysis, inductive coding, and deductive coding, we established four broad high-quality course design categories: course organization, course objectives and alignment, interpersonal interactions, and technology. Additionally, this study exploratively applied the rubric on 11 online course syllabi (N = 635 students) and found that these design categories explained variation in student performance.
          Cover page: Salient syllabi: Examining design characteristics of science online courses in higher education.Creative Commons 'BY' version 4.0 license
          • Article
          • Peer Reviewed
          UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2019)
          During the past few decades, there has been a nationwide push to improve performance and persistence outcomes for STEM undergraduates. As part of this effort, recent research has emphasized the need for focus on not only improving the delivery of course content, but also addressing the social-psychological needs of students. One promising intervention type that has been proposed as a multifaceted way to address both cognitive and social-psychological aspects of the learning process is the learning community. Learning communities provide students with opportunities to build a strong support system in college and are generally associated with increased student engagement and integration with campus systems and cultures. In this study, we examine the impact of a learning community intervention for first-year biological sciences majors, the Enhanced Academic Success Experience (EASE) program. Incoming freshmen are assigned to EASE based on their SAT (or ACT equivalent) Math score, a metric demonstrated to be a key predictor of student success in the program. We find that enrollment in EASE is correlated with higher STEM course grades; an increase of 0.25 (on a 0-4 point scale) in cumulative first-year GPA; and gains in non-academic outcomes, such as measures of sense of belonging and academic integration. Further, these outcomes are more pronounced for particular subgroup populations. For example, whereas surveyed male students seemed to benefit academically from participating in a learning community, female students reported a greater sense of belonging in regard to the biological sciences major and reported higher values for behavioral indicators of academic integration. Lastly, we find that the EASE program is positively correlated with students' intention to stay in the biological sciences major. And, among the three race-oriented groups, this impact is most pronounced for under-represented students. In light of these findings, we discuss the potential of discipline-specific learning community programs to improve academic outcomes for students most at risk of leaving STEM majors, such as students underprepared for college level coursework.
            Cover page: Success with EASE: Who benefits from a STEM learning community?Creative Commons 'BY' version 4.0 license
            • Article
            • Peer Reviewed
            UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2023)
            The saying-is-believing effect is an important step for changing students' attitudes and beliefs in a wise intervention. However, most studies have not closely examined the process of the saying-is-believing effect when individuals are engaged in the activity. Using a qualitative approach, the present study uses an engagement framework to investigate (a) components of engagement in the saying-is-believing effect; and (b) how differently students may engage in a saying-is-believing exercise. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 undergraduates in a scholarship program for low-income transfer students from community college. Analysis using inductive and deductive approaches found that students varied on the extent to which they experienced the effectiveness of the saying-is-believing effect through affective, cognitive, and behavioral experiences. The study offers examples of how people can indeed differ in the extent to which they experience the saying-is-believing effect, and the implications for designing more effective interventions. Specifically, students' positive affective experiences from seeing the larger goal of creating videos may be important components for the saying-is-believing effect to work. Behavioral experiences, such as learning soft skills, academic skills learned indirectly from the intervention, and academic skills learned directly from the intervention were accompanied by both positive affective and cognitive experiences. Findings show the importance of students' differential engagement in saying-is-believing exercises both for building more effective wise interventions and interpreting heterogeneity in intervention effectiveness.
              Cover page: Components of engagement in saying-is-believing exercises
              • Article
              • Peer Reviewed
              UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2021)
              This study integrates theories of achievement motivation and emotion to investigate daily academic behavior in an undergraduate online course. Using cluster analysis and hierarchical logistic regression, we analyze profiles of task values and anticipated emotions to understand expectations and completion of academic tasks over the duration of a week. Students' task specific interest, opportunity cost, and anticipated satisfaction and regret varied across tasks and were predictive of both their expectations of task completion and actual task completion reported the following day. The results shed light on the important role of achievement motivation as situated and dynamic, highlighting the interplay between task priorities, task values, and anticipated emotions in academic task engagement.
                Cover page: The motivational system of task values and anticipated emotions in daily academic behavior.
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