Fostering students' motivation towards learning research skills: the role of autonomy, competence and relatedness support

Promoting students' autonomous motivation for the ongoing curriculum using a 'Societal Impact Project' with basic psychological needs characteristics

PURPOSE

Autonomous motivation is important for university students, but it remains a challenge to stimulate their autonomous motivation for their curricula. We developed an extracurricular intervention (Societal Impact Project) with basic psychological needs supportive characteristics such as learning with self-defined problems relevant to curriculum and society, collaborative group work, and coaching by a teacher. This study aims at evaluating the intervention in fostering students' autonomous motivation for their regular curricula.

METHODS

We conducted a quasi-experimental study, using between-group pre- and post-test design. Participants from the intervention and control group completed a survey before and after the intervention, which measured the satisfaction of three basic psychological needs, autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, enjoyment, value, and well-being within their regular curricula. We compared the post-test differences between the two groups while controlling for pre-test scores.

RESULTS

Students in the intervention group had greater enjoyment in their regular curricula and perceived their regular curricula to have more value compared to students in the control group. The other variables did not differ significantly between the two groups in the post-test.

CONCLUSION

The intervention is effective for improving students' enjoyment and perceived value in their regular curricula. The variables with non-significant differences indicate the difficulty to alter students' basic psychological needs and motivation in their regular curricula, even after participating in a long-term intervention.

Enhancing creative process engagement in university students: the mediating role of trust and empowerment and the moderating effect of proactive personality in humble teacher leadership

This study examines the interplay between humble teacher leadership and student creative process engagement, grounded in Social Exchange Theory and Self-Determination Theory. Additionally, it analyzes the sequential mediating roles of student trust and psychological empowerment, as well as the moderating effect of proactive personality. Data were collected at three time points from 384 participants across Chinese universities and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with Smart PLS 4.0 software. The findings reveal that humble teacher leadership significantly enhances students' participation in creative processes. Student trust and psychological empowerment serve as sequential mediators in the relationship between humble leadership and creative engagement. Moreover, the presence of a proactive personality notably strengthens the positive influence of humble teacher leadership on students' creative process engagement. By exploring the psychological states and individual differences, this research elucidates the mediating mechanisms and boundary conditions between humble teacher leadership and students' creative engagement, providing theoretical foundations and practical guidelines for implementing humble leadership in educational settings.

Fostering university students' autonomous motivation through a societal impact project: a qualitative study of students' and teachers' perspectives

BACKGROUND

Fostering students' autonomous motivation is linked to numerous positive outcomes. However, stimulating autonomous motivation of students in health professions remains a challenge. According to the Self-Determination Theory, supporting students' basic psychological needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence fosters their autonomous motivation. However, there is a lack of studies that explore how and why education might enhance students' autonomous motivation. We designed, implemented, and investigated an extracurricular project called the 'Societal Impact Project' (SIP) to support students' basic psychological needs and autonomous motivation through three principles, offering authentic and collaborative learning experiences as well as scaffolding. This study aimed to understand how and why the SIP with characteristics of authentic and collaborative learning, and scaffolding supports students' autonomy, relatedness, competence, and autonomous motivation from the students' and teachers' perspectives.

METHODS

First-year students following the bachelor programmes of Biomedical Sciences and Health Sciences participated in the project. Students and teachers took part in focus groups conducted after the project. We adopted thematic analysis.

RESULTS

Students reported that, firstly, having freedom was motivating, but students needed different adaptive degrees of guidance throughout the project. Secondly, working in small groups could be motivating or demotivating, but having peer connections and openly discussing difficulties made the groups strong. Thirdly, societal relevant problems stimulated motivation and learning as students recognized the real-life value of the problems, but the relevance of these problems to students' curriculum was not always clear to them.

CONCLUSIONS

SIP reflected characteristics of the three educational principles, and students reported that these elements contributed to student's basic psychological needs and autonomous motivation. A careful balance is needed in terms of offering autonomy versus support. Furthermore, students faced difficulties in seeing the link between the societal relevant problems and their curricula.

Correlations among positive psychological capital, research motivation, and research ability by master's degree nursing students: A structural equation modeling

BACKGROUND

Nursing research ability is an important force in improving the quality of nursing care and driving the development of the discipline. As the main force and reserve force of nursing research, master's degree nursing students should have certain research ability. The contributing factors and their relationships that challenge research ability among master's degree nursing students must be fully understood, as this level of knowledge can support the development of strategies and interventions that improve the research ability of master's degree nursing students.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to examine the relationships among positive psychological capital, research motivation, and research ability by master's degree nursing students. In addition, we investigated whether research motivation mediates the relationship between positive psychological capital and research ability.

DESIGN

A descriptive cross-sectional study using an online questionnaire.

SETTING

The study sampled master's degree nursing students from colleges in Sichuan, Fujian, Hubei, and Tianjin Province, China.

PARTICIPANTS

From February 2022 to April 2022, 377 master's degree nursing students were chosen by a convenience sample method.

METHODS

Data were gathered using a general information questionnaire, the Positive Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PPCQ), the Research Motivation Scale (RMS), and the Nursing Research Ability of Self-Evaluation Questionnaire (NRASQ). Both SPSS 26.0 and Amos 28.0. were used to handle and analyze the data. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, and structural equation modeling were all used in the data analysis process. The reporting followed the STROBE checklist.

RESULTS

Positive psychological capital was found to be positively correlated with research ability (P < 0.01). Research motivation was also positively correlated with research ability (P < 0.01), and had a mediating effect on the relationship between positive psychological capital and research ability (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

The positive psychological capital and research motivation of master's degree nursing students are positively correlated with research ability. Research motivation significantly mediates the relationship between positive psychological capital and research ability. The findings of this study can inform educational strategies and interventions for the development of research ability of master's degree nursing students.

Research Hotspots and Trends of Social Robot Interaction Design: A Bibliometric Analysis

(1) Background: Social robot interaction design is crucial for determining user acceptance and experience. However, few studies have systematically discussed the current focus and future research directions of social robot interaction design from a bibliometric perspective. Therefore, we conducted this study in order to identify the latest research progress and evolution trajectory of research hotspots in social robot interaction design over the last decade. (2) Methods: We conducted a comprehensive review based on 2416 papers related to social robot interaction design obtained from the Web of Science (WOS) database. Our review utilized bibliometric techniques and integrated VOSviewer and CiteSpace to construct a knowledge map. (3) Conclusions: The current research hotspots of social robot interaction design mainly focus on #1 the study of human-robot relationships in social robots, #2 research on the emotional design of social robots, #3 research on social robots for children's psychotherapy, #4 research on companion robots for elderly rehabilitation, and #5 research on educational social robots. The reference co-citation analysis identifies the classic literature that forms the basis of the current research, which provides theoretical guidance and methods for the current research. Finally, we discuss several future research directions and challenges in this field.

Experience of Ethnic Discrimination, Anxiety, Perceived Risk of COVID-19, and Social Support among Polish and International Students during the Pandemic

BACKGROUND

Our research aimed to assess the experiences of ethnic discrimination among students in Poland (Polish and international) during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also tested the prevalence of anxiety symptoms and their relationship with perceived COVID-19 risk, the severity of discrimination, and social support.

METHODS

The data from Polish (n = 481) and international university students (n = 105) were collected online (November-January 2020). Participants completed measures of ethnic discrimination (GEDS), anxiety scale (GAD-7), COVID-19 risk perception index, and perceived social support scale (MSPSS) questionnaires.

RESULTS

The results showed that international students reported being much more discriminated than Polish students during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Contrary to our expectation, a higher risk of anxiety disorders (GAD) was observed in 42% of Polish students compared to 31% of international students. The predictors of higher anxiety symptoms among both groups were the perceived risk of COVID-19 and the greater severity of ethnic discrimination. In both groups, the perceived social support had a protective role in anxiety symptomatology.

CONCLUSIONS

The high prevalence of discrimination, especially among international students, simultaneously with high symptoms of anxiety, requires vigorous action involving preventive measures and psychological support.