Isabell Runge

In higher education, understanding motivational processes underlying student success is crucial for designing effective learning environments. Grounded in Situated Expectancy-Value Theory, this study examined how perceived instructional quality relates to academic achievement and whether these relations involve indirect links through subjective task values. We examined whether these relations differ between difficult and important courses. The sample consisted of 389 U.S. college students (70% female). Latent change score models revealed that in both course contexts, higher perceived instructional quality was associated with higher initial levels of subjective task values. Initial subjective task values were positively related to achievement and formed significant indirect pathways linking instructional quality and achievement. Changes in subjective task values did not mediate these relations. While the pattern of findings was largely comparable across course contexts, some descriptive differences emerged, pointing to context-specific nuances in how instructional quality related to subjective task values. These findings highlight the importance of instructional quality for students’ motivation across learning contexts in higher education.

Digital technologies play an increasingly important role in teaching and learning. Research potential lies in identifying factors that contribute to technology-enhanced teaching quality. The current study integrates assumptions of the technology acceptance model ( TAM ) and the situated expectancy-value theory ( SEVT ) into one framework to identify such factors. Along with the TAM, we investigate how factors like teachers’ technology-related self-efficacy and technology-related teacher training relate to technology-enhanced teaching quality. Based on SEVT, we also consider the role of psychological factors such as the perceived usefulness and costs of technology usage in class. We draw on a sample of N = 322 teachers from primary and secondary schools in Germany who participated in an online survey. Path models show that perceived usefulness, frequency of technology-related in-person teacher training, teachers’ technology-related self-efficacy, teachers’ gender, and schools’ technology equipment were positively related to constructive support as a dimension of technology-enhanced teaching quality. Understanding the factors that contribute to technology-enhanced teaching quality is relevant for designing educational settings that enhance the quality of teachers’ digital technology usage in class.

Based on the technology acceptance model (TAM), pre-service teachers’ acceptance of artificial intelligence (AI) is crucial in predicting their intentions to use AI in future teaching, as well as for their actual usage of AI. However, current research offers limited insights into the role of factors regarding usage intentions and behaviors. In particular, AI-related teacher training courses and AI-related technological pedagogical content knowledge (AI-TPACK) might be relevant, but are empirically underinvestigated within the TAM. This study addresses these gaps by investigating the relationships between pre-service teachers’ participation in AI-related courses, their self-reported AI-TPACK, their perceptions of AI’s usefulness and ease of use, and both their intention and actual usage of AI. Using path models with data from 143 pre-service teachers, the results revealed that participation in AI-related courses related positively to AI-TPACK and perceived AI-related usefulness. Further, AI-TPACK was positively related to perceived AI-related usefulness and ease of use, which in turn positively related to the behavioral intention to use AI in future teaching and the actual usage of AI for profession-related tasks in teacher training. The study results extend the existing research on TAM and highlight the consideration of participation in AI-related courses and AI-TPACK as further factors in understanding pre-service teachers’ AI acceptance.

Zusammenfassung: Lehrkräftefortbildungen sind entscheidend für die Weiterentwicklung professioneller Kompetenzen von Lehrkräften sowie für qualitätsvolles Unterrichtshandeln. Studien verweisen auch auf die Bedeutsamkeit von Fortbildungen, die sich mit digitalbezogenen Themen befassen. Wenige Befunde existieren allerdings darüber, ob und wie die digital gestützte Unterrichtsgestaltung oder digitale Kompetenzen von Lehrkräften abhängig vom Fortbildungsthema variieren. Vor diesem Hintergrund untersucht die vorliegende Studie Zusammenhänge zwischen verschiedenen digitalbezogenen Fortbildungsthemen, selbsteingeschätzten digitalen Kompetenzen von Lehrkräften sowie selbstberichtetem digital gestütztem Unterrichtshandeln. Dabei wurden Daten von 219 Lehrkräften aus einer Onlinebefragung von Anfang des Jahres 2023 ausgewertet, in welcher sie angaben, welche Fortbildungen zu digitalbezogenen Themen sie besucht haben. Es wurden querschnittliche Pfadmodelle in Mplus durchgeführt, welche verdeutlichen, dass Lehrkräfte insbesondere dann digitale Medien häufig zur kognitiven Aktivierung sowie konstruktiven Unterstützung einsetzten, wenn sie angaben, digitalbezogene Fortbildungen besucht zu haben, die technologische mit pädagogischen Inhalten kombinierten. Zudem konnte anhand indirekter Effekte gezeigt werden, dass die selbsteingeschätzten digitalen Kompetenzen von Lehrkräften (TPACK) die Zusammenhänge zwischen der Teilnahme an Fortbildungen zu den Themen „Aktive Medienarbeit“, „Computergestützte Förderung der Schülerinnen und Schüler“ und „Fachspezifische Unterrichtsentwicklung mit digitalen Medien“ und der selbstberichteten digital gestützten Unterrichtsqualität vermittelten. Aus den vorliegenden Ergebnissen werden praktische Implikationen für die Lehrkräftefortbildung im Bereich der Digitalisierung abgeleitet.