Students' Class Perceptions and Ratings of Instruction: Variability Across Undergraduate Mathematics Courses

Validating a measure of motivational climate in health science courses

PURPOSE

The aim of the study was to examine the validity evidence for the 19-item form of the MUSIC Model of Academic Motivation Inventory (College Student version) within health science schools in three different countries. The MUSIC Inventory includes five scales that assess the motivational climate by measuring students' perceptions related to five separate constructs: empowerment, usefulness, success, interest, and caring.

BACKGROUND

The 26-item form of the MUSIC Inventory has been validated for use with undergraduate students and with students in professional schools, including students at a veterinary medicine school, a pharmacy school, and a medical school. A 19-item form of the MUSIC Inventory has also been validated for use with undergraduate students, but it has not yet been validated for use with medical school students. The purpose of this study was to provide validity evidence for the use of the 19-item form in heath science schools in three different countries to determine if this version is acceptable for use in different cultures. If validated, this shorter form of the MUSIC Inventory would provide more differentiation between the Interest and Usefulness scales and could reduce respondent fatigue.

METHODOLOGY

Cook et al's [1] practical guidelines were followed to implement Kane's [2] validity framework as a means to examine the evidence of validity through scoring inferences, generalization inferences, and extrapolation inferences. Students (n = 667) in health science schools within three countries were surveyed.

RESULTS

The results produced evidence to support all five hypotheses related to scoring, generalization, and extrapolation inferences.

CONCLUSIONS

Scores from the 19-item form of the MUSIC Inventory are valid for use in health science courses within professional schools in different countries. Therefore, the MUSIC Inventory can be used in these schools to assess students' perceptions of the motivational climate.

Validating the MUSIC Model of Academic Motivation Inventory: Evidence for the Short Forms of the College Student Version

The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity evidence for the use of the 19-item and 20-item short forms of the MUSIC Model of Academic Motivation Inventory (College Student version) with undergraduate students. These shorter forms of the MUSIC Inventory could be beneficial to teachers and researchers. Our analysis included inventory responses from 2951 undergraduate students in 32 courses at a large public university in the Southeastern United States. Validity evidence for the scores was based on our examination of three types of validity inference: scoring, generalization, and extrapolation. We compared the short and long forms of the MUSIC Inventory using descriptive statistics, Cronbach’s alpha values, Pearson’s correlation coefficients, and fit indices from factor analyses. We were able to confirm all five of the validation hypotheses, thus demonstrating that the short forms of the MUSIC Inventory can provide scores that are valid for use with undergraduate students.

Chinese Students' Perceptions of the Motivational Climate in College English Courses: Relationships Between Course Perceptions, Engagement, and Achievement

Effective teachers create a motivational climate that engages students in course activities in ways that lead to increased learning and achievement. Although researchers have identified motivational climate variables that are associated with students’ engagement and achievement, less is known about how these variables are related in different courses and cultures. The purpose of the two studies presented in this paper was to contribute to this research literature by examining these associations within the context of college English courses in two Chinese universities. Specifically, we investigated the relationships between students’ perceptions of the motivational climate (i.e., perceptions of empowerment/autonomy, usefulness, success, interest, and caring), cognitive and behavioral engagement, and achievement. This is the first study to examine the connections between all of these variables in one path model in college English courses in China. We administered surveys at two different Chinese universities (n = 332 and 259) and used regression and path analysis to examine the relationships among the variables. We demonstrated that (a) students’ perceptions of the motivational climate were related to their cognitive engagement, (b) cognitive engagement was related to their behavioral engagement, and (c) behavioral engagement predicted their achievement. These findings are consistent with and extend the growing body of literature on motivational climate and engagement, and they highlight the importance of some motivational climate perceptions over others as significant predictors of cognitive engagement. We conclude that effective English language teachers in China do the following: help students to believe that they can be successful, trigger and maintain students’ interest, and empower students by providing them with choices in activities and assignments.