ABSTRACT

Although professional training or development opportunities can help university academics to expand their competences and implement high quality educational practices, academics differ in the extent to which they engage in such learning opportunities and their resulting learning gains. A theoretical explanation for these differences involves their motivations in the form of achievement goals. Accordingly, in the current study we investigated the effects of academics’ achievement goals on their learning engagement and learning gains in professional development courses. Forty-eight German university academics completed assessments of achievement goals prior to course participation, their learning engagement during the course (three short assessments measuring: effort, learning intensity, risk-taking, elaboration, implementation, and persistence), and their learning gains afterwards. Latent growth curve modeling revealed a significant influence of achievement goals on the overall levels of learning engagement. Specifically, learning-approach goals led to more functional learning engagement while work-avoidance goals led to less functional learning engagement. Further analyses confirmed that academics’ achievement goals were related to the amount they learned, mediated by their learning engagement. These findings highlight the importance of supporting academics’ achievement goals to ensure quality learning experiences.

摘要

尽管专业培训或发展机会可以帮助大学学术人员扩展能力并实施高质量的教育实践，但学术界在参与此类学习机会的程度以及由此获得的学习收益方面存在差异。对这些差异的理论解释涉及成就目标形式的动机。因此，在本研究中，我们调查了学者的成就目标对他们在职业发展课程中的学习参与和学习收益的影响。四十八名德国大学学者完成了参与课程之前的成就目标评估，他们在课程中的学习参与度（三个简短评估：努力，学习强度，承担风险，阐述，实施和坚持不懈），然后他们的学习成果。潜在增长曲线建模显示成就目标对学习参与的总体水平有重大影响。具体而言，学习方法目标导致更多的功能性学习参与，而工作回避目标则导致较少的功能性学习参与。进一步的分析证实，学者的成就目标与他们的学习参与程度相关。这些发现强调了支持学者的成就目标以确保高质量学习体验的重要性。学习方法目标导致更多的功能性学习参与度，而工作避免目标导致功能性的学习参与度降低。进一步的分析证实，学者的成就目标与他们的学习参与程度相关。这些发现强调了支持学者的成就目标以确保高质量学习体验的重要性。学习方法目标导致更多的功能性学习参与，而工作避免目标导致功能性的学习参与减少。进一步的分析证实，学者的成就目标与他们的学习参与程度相关。这些发现强调了支持学者的成就目标以确保高质量学习体验的重要性。