Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on students’ learning, well-being, and academic motivation. Due to the pandemic, shifts to remote/hybrid learning, physical distancing, and concerns regarding health and financial prospects are most likely influencing students’ perceptions, values, goals, and behaviours. Moreover, COVID-related discrimination and health disparities disproportionately affecting minoritized individuals continue to lay bare racial inequities embedded in the U.S. and in the sociohistoric contexts from which Students of Colour derive cultural values towards schooling. As motivational shifts are anticipated due to this unprecedented confluence of factors in the wake of the pandemic, this conceptual review examines five prominent theories of academic motivation to provide greater conceptual clarity of mechanisms impacting students’ motivation during times of transition and upheaval, specifically instructional, social, future-oriented, and sociocultural shifts. I conclude by presenting an integrative model synthesising across theories—the Motivation Within Changing Culturalized Contexts Model—and implications for educational practice.

Academic motivation in a pandemic context: a conceptual review of prominent theories and an integrative model

Abstract Digital learning has often been criticized due to its lack of student engagement, which results from the physical absence of teachers and the lack of direct communication with their students. Critics of digital education have also pointed out that students’ disengagement is a major factor behind this education format’s inability to positively impact all stakeholders. This can be frustrating for the students themselves and may result in poor educational outcomes. Therefore, digital learning is regarded as a temporary arrangement and not a potential replacement for face-to-face education because of shortcomings that can lead to disengagement among students. To test the validity of this belief, we conducted an experimental study on 245 female Kuwaiti students. We trained teachers in the digital education shifting (DES) model. Following this model, we placed emphasis on student–teacher communication, cooperation among students, and enhanced the principles of digital learning. We asked the trained teachers’ students to respond to a self-assessed student engagement checklist survey to measure their engagement during online classes. We found that the students of the experimental group performed better on various parameters of observable and internal engagement compared to control group students. Contrary to general belief, we proved that the innovative DES approach can indeed make digital learning more engaging, effective, and a viable alternative or at least an aligned and integrated form for conventional education in the long run. 

/pdf/effectiveness-of-digital-education-shifting-model-on-high-1y26coxb.pdf

Effectiveness of digital education shifting model on high school students’ engagement

The onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic has negatively impacted sustainable learning in education (SLE). During city lockdowns, higher education institutes (HEIs) have transitioned from adopting solely traditional didactic classroom teaching to including innovative, flexible learning approaches such as flipped classrooms. Gamification is a new techno-pedagogy that has been integrated into flipped classrooms to promote learner achievement and engagement. Grounded in self-determination theory, the objectives of this exploratory study were to analyse the influence of the flipped classroom and gamification on SLE concerning learner achievement and engagement. Participants were recruited from postgraduate business education programmes in China, and three instructional interventions were applied for a semester of 10 weeks. The three instructional interventions applied were: gamified flipped classroom (n = 25), non-gamified flipped classroom (n = 24) and gamified traditional classroom (n = 19). A mixed-methods approach was used, and both quantitative and qualitative data were analysed. The results indicated gamified traditional classrooms promote learner achievement, and the gamified flipped classrooms promote learner engagement. Furthermore, learning culture, such as teacher-dependency, also influence learner achievement and engagement. The class observation reports and learner interviews suggested that both gamified flipped classrooms and gamified traditional classrooms support SLE in the time of academic uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic.

/pdf/flipped-classroom-and-gamification-approach-its-impact-on-1oq4kzd9.pdf

Flipped Classroom and Gamification Approach: Its Impact on Performance and Academic Commitment on Sustainable Learning in Education

The online traditional and the online flipped classroom approaches have been adopted worldwide in higher education during the prolonged city lockdowns. Research has suggested that gamification is a technopedagogy which can be integrated into these approaches to promote learning outcomes. Hence, this study aims to uncover various risks and opportunities involved in adopting the online flipped and gamified classroom approaches, especially in terms of their impact on academic achievement, for ensuring sustainable adult education during the pandemic. We conducted a mixed-method study grounded in self-determination theory and adult learning principles, in which learners enrolled in a postgraduate business management programme were divided into three instructional conditions for one module: a gamified online flipped class (GOFC, n = 25), a nongamified online flipped class (NOFC, n = 24), and a gamified online traditional class (GOTC, n = 19). Quantitative and qualitative data from the learners, teachers, and teaching assistants were collected and analysed to compare academic achievement across the classes. Contrary to the expectations of gamification proponents, the learners in the nongamified online flipped class significantly outperformed those in the two gamified online classes. Qualitative findings revealed that technical support, professional training for teachers, and building learners’ sense of belonging to their classes were necessary to ensure the sustainability of learning in fully online classes. The findings, thus, have important implications for the effective implementation of these pedagogical approaches in adult education programmes in a fully online environment.

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/19/12396/pdf?version=1664525506

Online Flipped and Gamification Classroom: Risks and Opportunities for the Academic Achievement of Adult Sustainable Learning during COVID-19 Pandemic

Self-determination theory argues that students' intrinsic motivation is cultivated when teachers teach in ways that meet students' basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness (i.e., need-supportive teaching). However, the suspension of in-person teaching and learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic has urged teachers to search for strategies to practice need-supportive teaching online. This study tested the effect of need-supportive task instruction on students' situational intrinsic motivation in an online language learning task. We also examined whether the ensuing intrinsic motivation on the task would positively predict task performance directly or indirectly through self-assessment practice. Controlling for pre-test situational intrinsic motivation, secondary school students randomly assigned to the need-supportive task instruction (n = 56) showed significantly higher situational intrinsic motivation than those in the control group (n = 50). The need-supportive task instructions had a medium effect size on intrinsic motivation. Although such intrinsic motivation had no direct effect on task performance, it yielded significant indirect effects via self-assessment practice. Post-hoc moderated mediation analysis demonstrated that the indirect effect of intrinsic motivation on task performance was specific to students in the need-supportive task instruction group. Overall, need-supportive statements embedded in task instructions generated increased intrinsic motivation on an online task. As schools transition to the new normal of education, this study presents a unique opportunity for educators to implement theoretically informed, brief, and sustainable interventions to support students' motivation and learning online. 

Supporting students' intrinsic motivation for online learning tasks: The effect of need-supportive task instructions on motivation, self-assessment, and task performance

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, higher educational institutions worldwide switched to emergency distance learning in early 2020. The less structured environment of distance learning forced students to regulate their learning and motivation more independently. According to self-determination theory (SDT), satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence and social relatedness affects intrinsic motivation, which in turn relates to more active or passive learning behavior. As the social context plays a major role for basic need satisfaction, distance learning may impair basic need satisfaction and thus intrinsic motivation and learning behavior. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between basic need satisfaction and procrastination and persistence in the context of emergency distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in a cross-sectional study. We also investigated the mediating role of intrinsic motivation in this relationship. Furthermore, to test the universal importance of SDT for intrinsic motivation and learning behavior under these circumstances in different countries, we collected data in Europe, Asia and North America. A total of N = 15,462 participants from Albania, Austria, China, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Kosovo, Lithuania, Poland, Malta, North Macedonia, Romania, Sweden, and the US answered questions regarding perceived competence, autonomy, social relatedness, intrinsic motivation, procrastination, persistence, and sociodemographic background. Our results support SDT's claim of universality regarding the relation between basic psychological need fulfilment, intrinsic motivation, procrastination, and persistence. However, whereas perceived competence had the highest direct effect on procrastination and persistence, social relatedness was mainly influential via intrinsic motivation.

/pdf/distance-learning-in-higher-education-during-covid-19-the-4lt3ly3rd6.pdf

Distance learning in higher education during COVID-19: The role of basic psychological needs and intrinsic motivation for persistence and procrastination-a multi-country study.

The relation between vulnerability and environmental threats in islands depends on the geographical conditions of specific islands rather than general assumptions. It is assumed that different island communities may develop different socio-environmental dynamics depending on the ordinary everyday context, which would determine their resilience to real and perceived risks. This research provides data on communities’ perception of their vulnerability to environmental issues, with the objective of understanding the sense of vulnerability of two neighbouring island communities in the Maldives: Maamigili and Fenfushi. The research is based on qualitative and quantitative methods which include semi-structured interviews with national and local entities, and questionnaires distributed among island inhabitants. The study shows that although the islands are located in very similar geographical settings, the socio-environment dynamics within each of the islands determines the communities’ sense of vulnerability. The communities of Maamigili and Fenfushi face different situations and, as such, general assumptions would not address the gaps and needs of communities of specific islands. Even if two islands are relatively close and similar to each other, they still require separate Disaster Risk Reduction strategies so as to address the real and perceived short- and long-term vulnerabilities of the locals as a means to build more resilient communities.

Glorianne Borg Axisa

Papers

Distance learning in higher education during COVID-19: The role of basic psychological needs and intrinsic motivation for persistence and procrastination-a multi-country study.

Vulnerability to disaster in the Maldives: The Maamigili and Fenfushi Island communities