The use of technology to compel student learning has become an increasingly central component of teaching, learning, and school improvement efforts. What exactly does virtual learning entail? How does it integrate with curriculum and instruction? Does it present organizational challenges to educational institutions? This study examined unit test…

Student use of computers and the internet has increased rapidly in recent years. Teachers ask what types of learning experiences can be facilitated by using the internet in their classrooms (NSBF, 2007). Various surveys of U.S. teachers on internet usage report that having students use the internet for research and information gathering purposes…

The aim of this study was to examine whether student achievement and school location may influence a range of homework management strategies. The participants were 633 rural and urban students in Grade 8. These homework management strategies include: (a) setting an appropriate work environment, (b) managing time, (c) handling distraction, (d)…

Some argue that the goal of education is to influence out-of-school learning activity, yet little research exists on how teachers can help students develop an interest in a topic and continue to pursue that interest outside of school. The current study tested classroom context variables from self-determination theory (teachers' autonomy support)…

The purpose of this mixed methods sequential explanatory study was to identify factors contributing to students' persistence in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Distributed Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership in Higher Education by obtaining quantitative results from surveying 278 current and former students and then following up with…

In this article, we argue for a change in how researchers study motivation to learn. We believe that research can provide better explanations of the origins and outcomes of behavior, and thus be more useful, if we focus on how motivation develops and why it changes. We suggest reframing motivation research in education by extending the current…

This article describes the development of the School Attitude Assessment Survey (SAAS), an instrument that measures self-concept, self-motivation and self-regulation, attitude toward school, and peer attitudes to predict the academic achievement of adolescents. (Contains 43 references and 5 tables.) (Author)

Demonstrates that two fifth-grade avid writers differentiated between flow experiences and non-flow experiences associated with writing, and describes flow experiences in terms similar to those reported in studies in adolescents and adults. Shows that flow experiences occurred when students controlled important aspects of writing, such as…

Recent literature on motivation has documented that perceptions of self-competence and motivational orientations for learning are interrelated. This study focuses specifically on childrens perceptions of their scholastic abilities, how these perceptions develop and how they relate to intrinsic motivation for learning. The rationale for this study…

This booklet synthesizes principles of motivation that have emerged from research examining the effect of motivational practices on school learning. It addresses achievement motivation, intrinsic motivation, goal orientation, and the effect of teacher practices on the promotion of motivational beliefs, motivation strategies, and willpower. It also…

Offers an interpretive case study designed to provide insights about students' thoughts, feelings, and actions when not initially motivated for literacy tasks, and ways in which some students were able to become intrinsically interested. Reveals three different patterns of engagement (or lack thereof), represented in three different "Situations"…

This concise report explores the issue of student reading motivation, and relates it to the use of the Accelerated Reader (AR) reading management program. The report discusses issues of extrinsic versus intrinsic motivation, and notes that the points students earn for taking Accelerated Reader tests are not extrinsic rewards but simply a…

This guide is addressed to children in the often neglected middle years--ages 9 through 12--to help them see themselves as better persons and students in the process of growing up. Part one discusses issues that concern children as persons: self-esteem, things that can hurt and annoy, disabilities, dilemmas and decisions, learning to say no to…

Analyzes career hopes of, and the career guidance provided to, a group of adolescent Muslim girls. Interviews were conducted with 24 British Asian Muslim girls in the final year of compulsory schooling at three schools, with their parents and with 18 of their teachers. Findings indicate a desire for upward mobility through education and career…

Traces a program of research on students' self-regulation of their academic and health functioning from initial operational definitions to training and intervention studies. This body of evidence has shown that students' use of self-regulatory processes, such as learning strategies, goal setting, self-monitoring, and self-efficacy beliefs, predict…