Positive emotions, learning behavior and teacher support in self-directed learning during adolescence: Do age and gender matter?

The relationship between psychological capital and self-directed learning ability among undergraduate nursing students-a cross-sectional study

Background

Psychological capital has become a prominent focus in positive psychology, highlighting the positive influence of higher psychological capital on individuals. Self-directed learning ability is a fundamental skill for students, vital for enhancing academic performance and professional development, and is integral to the continuous learning process of nursing students. Recognizing the relationship between psychological capital and self-directed learning ability is crucial for the progress and development of undergraduate nursing students.

Objective

This study aims to investigate the correlation between psychological capital and self-directed learning ability in undergraduate nursing students, as well as to explore the factors that influence these variables.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 667 full-time undergraduate nursing students from a nursing school in Taizhou, China. Psychological capital and self-directed learning ability were assessed using the Psychological Capital Questionnaire and Self-Directed Learning Scale, respectively. Correlation and stepwise multiple regression analyses were then carried out to evaluate the relationship between psychological capital and self-directed learning ability among the participants.

Results

The study revealed that the psychological capital score averaged at 103.24 ± 15.51, while the self-directed learning scale score averaged at 230.67 ± 27.66. Variations in psychological capital scores were noted based on factors including grade level, being an only child, growth environment, monthly living expenses, parental education level, voluntary selection of nursing major, and club experience. Similarly, differences in self-directed learning scores were associated with factors such as grade level, gender, parental education level, and voluntary selection of nursing major. Moreover, a positive correlation was identified between the overall psychological capital scores and the total self-directed learning ability scores among nursing students. Notably, the multiple regression analysis highlighted that optimism and resilience played significant roles as predictors of self-directed learning ability.

Conclusion

Psychological capital is positively correlated with the self-directed learning ability of nursing students, with optimism and resilience identified as crucial predictors. Nursing educators can utilize strategies rooted in positive psychology and perseverance to improve the self-directed learning ability of nursing students.

Examining different motivational patterns in individualized learning

Past research on situated expectancy-value theory has regularly provided evidence of different motivational patterns indicating that not only can students be characterized by different levels of motivation (e.g., low vs. high), but also by divergent profiles (e.g., high success expectancies, low task values). This person-oriented two-wave study (a) identified and compared the motivational patterns of secondary school students from different learning environments (i.e., Student-Centered Learning vs. Teacher-Directed Learning), (b) analyzed the stability of and changes to these patterns during a school year, and (c) examined whether achievement-related choices and performance predicted the pattern changes. Using data from German secondary school students (T1: N = 1153; M = 13.97 years, SD = 1.37; 49% girls) multigroup latent transition analysis revealed four different motivational patterns, including a (a) High Motivational pattern, (b) Medium Motivational pattern, (c) Low Motivational pattern, and (d) Highly Confident/Hardly Interested pattern. The distribution of these patterns differed significantly between students from Student-Centered-Learning and Teacher-Directed-Learning environments. Approximately 47% of students in Teacher-Directed Learning were in the low motivational class whereas the Student-Centered Learning environment exhibited approximately half of that number. The extremely stable nature of these classes highlights the strong relevance of the educational context for student motivation and supports situated expectancy-value theory.

Personality and universal design for learning in management education

Purpose

This paper aims to improve the understanding of student readiness for universal design for learning (UDL), thereby reducing a barrier to its adoption by management faculty. It explores how students’ personality (conscientiousness and openness to experience) affects their readiness to embrace UDL and investigate how that relationship is mediated by self-directed learning (SDL).

Design/methodology/approach

Analysis uses survey data from students in management courses. From these data are created multi-item constructs and control variables. A mediated regression model that uses bootstrapping to estimate parameters and standard errors generates the results.

Findings

The findings were that SDL is strongly related to student readiness for UDL and that SDL fully mediates the relationship between conscientiousness and UDL. Openness to experience, however, directly relates to UDL without any mediation.

Research limitations/implications

This research applies only to one institution and two management courses. The methodology used in this study is limited to one part of the UDL model, which is a measure of student readiness to engage in choice. Future research can extend this model to other courses and institutions and other parts of the UDL model.

Practical implications

These findings provide insight into the student characteristics that enable them to gain empowerment and motivation from the UDL approach. Implementation of UDL in management education may require learning management strategies that accommodate student readiness for UDL. This study makes progress in identifying student characteristics that explain this readiness.

Social implications

UDL can improve management education by making it more accessible to students with different personalities and learning styles.

Originality/value

This study developed a method for analyzing the applicability of UDL in management education. It also devised and implemented a new survey measure for student readiness for UDL.

Adolescents' enjoyment and effort in class: Influenced by self-directed learning intervals

Based on the control-value theory, the present study examined the development and change of enjoyment and effort among adolescents during a school year. The study analyzed 754 adolescent students (M_Age = 13.56; SD = 1.2; 49.7% female) who twice participated in a 1-week intervention of self-directed learning (SDL). The results of the bivariate latent neighbor change model showed that-contrary to previous study results-a positive development of enjoyment and effort was generally recorded over the school year and that particularly the two 1-week self-directed learning interventions were beneficial for this increase. Furthermore, the results show that enjoyment and effort were reciprocally linked over time, but only when self-directed learning was experienced first. In other words, by enlarging instruction via self-directed learning intervals, it is possible to counteract the tendency of enjoyment and effort to exhibit a downward spiral. This tendency is especially pronounced during students' entry into secondary school and the onset of adolescence.

Development and psychometric testing of a Learning Behaviour Questionnaire among Chinese undergraduate nursing students

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to develop and validate a new Learning Behaviour Questionnaire (LBQ) for the undergraduate nursing students.

STUDY DESIGN

This study was performed in two phases. Phase 1 of the study focused on questionnaire development to create a pool of items, while phase 2 focused on validity and reliability testing.

METHODS

Semistructured interviews were used to explore nursing undergraduates' perception of learning behaviour. A two-round modified Delphi method was used to test content validity and quantify the degree of consistency in questionnaire items. An item analysis, an exploratory factor analysis (EFA), a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and an internal consistency reliability check were conducted. Criterion-related validity was demonstrated through correlations with Self-Regulated Learning Scale for Undergraduates (SRLS-U). A sample of 114 nursing students was evaluated in test-retest reliability to confirm stability.

RESULTS

The final LBQ consisted of four factors for the 19-item questionnaire with a 5-point rating from '1' (Fully disagree) to '5' (fully agree). The content validity was 0.890. EFA revealed the presence of four factors, including 'strategy', 'attitude', 'motivation' and 'degree of satisfaction'. The CFA indicated good fit indexes for the proposed model (χ²/df=1.866, root mean square residual=0.037, comparative fit index =0.950, goodness-of-fit index =0.929, Tucker-Lewis index=0.941, adjusted goodness-of-fit index=0.907 and root mean square error of approximation=0.049). The LBQ correlated significantly with SRLS-U subscales (r=0.742-0.837, p<0.01). The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the whole questionnaire was 0.936, while the Cronbach's alphas of the four factors were 0.828, 0.826, 0.804 and 0.805, respectively. The test-retest reliabilities of the four factors were 0.886, 0.904, 0.852 and 0.875, respectively.

CONCLUSION

The validity and reliability of the LBQ were satisfying. The LBQ is a short, well-developed questionnaire that can serve as a generic assessment tool for measuring learning behaviour for Chinese undergraduate nursing students.Cite Now.

Needs satisfaction and motivation among adolescent boys and girls during self-directed learning intervention

INTRODUCTION

Self-directed learning (SDL) fosters adolescents' needs satisfaction. According to self-determination theory, meeting adolescents' needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness is essential for their motivation. However, students' needs satisfaction and motivation tend to decrease during adolescence and the rate of decrease varies by gender. Prior research within the self-determination theory literature has described adolescents in traditional teacher-directed learning (TDL) contexts, but little research has examined decreases in adolescents' needs satisfaction and motivation or gender-based differences among adolescents in SDL interventions.

METHODS

The present two-wave study compared questionnaire data from German adolescent boys and girls (N = 754; M_age = 13.56; SD = 1.2; 49.4% girls) who attended an SDL intervention. To investigate possible gender-based differences in the interplay and extend of the variables, two multi-group structural equation model (multigroup SEM) and latent mean comparison (LMC) were programmed.

RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS

Boys reported higher values only for introjected and extrinsic regulation. With two different restricted multigroup SEMs, the present study detected additional gender-based differences. For example, the paths between autonomy and intrinsic and identified motivation were stronger for boys than for girls, and competence was only associated with intrinsic motivation among girls. Overall, these findings suggest that fewer gender-based differences exist in needs satisfaction and academic self-regulation in an SDL intervention than have been observed in previous research in TDL contexts. Further, adolescents' needs satisfaction was explicitly associated with higher forms of academic motivation (i.e., intrinsic and identified).