Vol-7, Special Issue3-April, 2016, pp672-678 http://www.bipublication.com
ase Report C
A Study of the Relationship between Using Educational Software and
Students’ Achievement Motivation
Elham Berenji
PhD student of Islamic Azad University, Kazerun Branch Email address: elhamberenji1976@gmail.com
Supervisor: Dr. Hamidreza Motamed Email address: hrmotamed@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
The present study examines the relationship between the use of educational software and students’ achievement motivation. The statistical population consisted of all female first grade high school students in Imam Khomeini port. The sample consisted of 180 female students who were selected from the abovementioned population using multistage random sampling method. Data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire for using educational software (PowerPoint, Overhead and Whiteboard) and Hermans' Achievement Motivation Inventory (HAMI). The level of significance in this study was considered P≤0.001. Pearson correlation results indicate that there is a positive and significant correlation between the use of educational software and students’ achievement motivation. The results of enter and stepwise regression analysis showed that subscales of educational software can predict achievement motivation and among the software programs, PowerPoint has the highest correlation with students’ achievement motivation. Therefore, using educational software can enhance students' motivation and thereby raise their interest in learning.
Key words: Educational software, PowerPoint, Overhead, Whiteboard, achievement motivation.
INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, there has been many changes in the way students learn different school subjects, to the extent that they seek to use newer and more efficient methods in order to learn course material faster and better and maintain acquired information. However, some believe that these fundamental changes in students’ learning method occurred thanks to educational media, which enabled students to use educational software instead of learning solely from teachers and textbooks (Abedi, 2011). Using educational software in learning environments is a suitable and necessary way of discovering and accessing information resources in order to prepare students for future life. The most practical aspects of educational software include learning, creating motivation, creating positive attitude to education, learner’s ease of access to content (Kafashi, 2010).Using educational software at schools has increased students’ interest in and
2008). In their famous book entitled “Achievement Motivation”, they wrote: “Some individuals are more ambitious than others and try to be successful in life. Achievement motivation or success motivation refers to the tendency or desire to gain success and participate in activities in which success depends on personal effort and abilities (Salvin, 2006).Psychologists believe that students’ achievement motivation to learn the material is associated with factors such as self-confidence, concentration, hard work and perseverance to do difficult assignments, desire to continue studying in the hours after class and choosing tasks that require more effort (Radel at el, 2010). Also, achievement motivation is associated with learning and educational achievement and negative thoughts and emotions such as stress and anxiety resulting in a decline in performance. Thus, individuals who have a strong motivation and desire for educational achievement, will have perseverance in all areas, especially in education, and in the face of unforeseen problems, rather than being influenced by negative emotions and thoughts, they use better solutions (Pekrun, 2011). When an individual is motivated to succeed, he will expect positive outcomes and when he is motivated to avoid failure, he will expect negative outcomes (Brunstein & Maier, 2005). In fact, through motivation, students are stimulated to complete their educational assignments in order to reach the goals as well as a certain level of expertise, skill, or success. The behavior of highly motivated individuals is characterized as energetic, purposeful, oriented and stable. Such students get involved in difficult educational activities and work really hard for mastery of learning (Amrai, 2011). Those with low achievement motivation are motivated to experience success, but those with low need for achievement are stimulated to fear failure. Also, these individuals tend to avoid relatively difficult assignments and mostly participate in easier or very difficult assignments (McClelland, 1987).If educational software programs are developed properly and based on learning psychology principles, they really help students make progress. In a review of the
studies conducted on the efficiency of these educational software programs, it was concluded that, education using educational software programs can be more effective when used to supplement classroom learning rather than when it replaces class learning (Malik & Agarwal, 2012). One of the most important characteristics of educational software is the high interaction of students with the course material and the learning environment. In interactive learning systems, the interaction is designed in a way that involves the learner in choosing, responding the questions and problem solving. Thus, the learner is engaged in the process of learning and the learning will be more effective and more profound and involving thinking and increased sensitivity to external learning environment, which leads to the growth of personality, motivation and self-confidence (Higgins, 2012). Research indicates a relationship between the use of educational software and educational motivation (Pakniyat et al., 2013; Rezairad, 2014; Momeni et al., 2013; Jaschik, 2010; Mendel, 2010; Elliot, 2010).Educational software programs must be taken into consideration because they are used to create motivation and attitude in students and due to their role in this area. If these educational software programs are selected properly, they present the course material in a way that creates interest and motivation. Therefore, given the importance of using these software programs, the aim of the present research is to study the relationship between using educational software and motivation in female first grade high school students in Imam Khomeini port.
RESEARCH METHOD
research questions. Also, in order to analyze the data, SPSS-21 software was used.
Researcher-made questionnaire for using educational software:
Researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect data about educational software, which consisted of 36 questions in three parts, each consisting of 12 questions. The first part contained questions about PowerPoint, the second part included questions about overhead and the third part consisted of questions about whiteboard and students expressed their opinion about these three educational software products. To answer the questions, three-point Likert scale ranging from I Agree (3) to I Disagree (1) was used. To determine the reliability of this tool, Cronbach’s alpha was used. The values of Cronbach’s alpha for the three subscales was obtained 0.81, 0.73, and 0.69 respectively, which are acceptable. In addition, after the questionnaire was developed by the researcher, to determine its validity, the questionnaire was distributed to a number of psychology professors of Islamic Azad University, Kazerun and Shiraz branches and they confirmed the content validity of the questionnaire.
Hermans' Achievement Motivation Inventory (HAMI):
This questionnaire was developed by Hermans (1987) and contains 29 four-choice questions which are in the form of incomplete sentences and after each incomplete sentence four choices are provided. Choices are scored based on achievement motivation from high to low or low to high. In questions number 1, 4, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 20, 23, 27, 28, and 29, A is scored 1; B is scored 2; C is scored 3; and D is scored 4 and in the rest of the questions, scoring is vice versa. The range of variation of scores is between 29 and 116. In a study by Qaffari and Arfa Baluchi (2011), using Cronbach’s alpha method, the reliability of this tool was obtained 0.61. In the present research, using Cronbach’s alpha method, reliability was obtained 0.85 which indicates desirable reliability of this tool. Also, using construct validity, validity of this tool was obtained 0.88 which is desirable.
Findings
Table 1 shows the mean and standard deviation of the scores of the subjects in all the research variables.
Table 1. The mean and standard deviation of the scores of the subjects in all the research variables Variables
Mean
Standard deviation
Motivation
87/32 20/07
PowerPoint
27/44 4/35
Whiteboard
19/61 3/59
Overhead projector
17/75 2/30
As seen in Table 1, PowerPoint has the highest mean among educational software programs, with the mean of 44.27. Table 2, presents the correlation coefficients of the subscales of educational software and achievement motivation.
Table 2. Correlation coefficients between the research variables
Variables Correlation coefficients
1 2 3
4
1. Motivation
-0/61 0/53
0/44
2. PowerPoint
-0/81 0/58
3. Whiteboard
-0/83
4. Overhead
Table 3. Multiple correlation coefficients of educational software subscales and motivation using enter method Predictive statistical index MR RS F P (ß) and B regression coefficients
1 2 3 1. PowerPoint 0/61 0/37 /94 105 0/000 0/61 = 2/81 = B 10/29 = t 0/000 = p 2. Whiteboard 0/61 0/37 53/39 0/000 0/53 = 2/45 = B 5/18 = t 0/000 = p 0/09 = 0/54 = B 0/95 = t 0/034 = p 3. Overhead 0/62 0/38 36/73 0/000 0/57 = 2/67 = B 5/44 = t 0/000 = p 0/08 -= 0/49 -= B 0/08 -= t 0/002 = p 0/17 = 1/53 = B 1/58 = t 0/016 = p
Table 3 presents the results of regression analysis of educational software and motivation using enter method. As shown in Table 3, multiple regression coefficient for the linear combination of subscales of educational software and motivation is 0.62 and its coefficient of determination (r-square) is 0.38 which is significant at the level of p=0.001. Considering the obtained coefficient of determination, it is found that approximately 38 percent of the motivation variance is explained by the educational software subscales.
Table 4. Multiple correlation coefficients of educational software subscales and motivation using stepwise method
Predictive statistical index MR RS F P )
ß) and B regression coefficients 1 1. PowerPoint 0/66 0/38 106 0/000 0/63 = 2/90 = B 10/50 = t 0/000 = p
Table 4 presents the stepwise regression analysis of educational software and motivation. As shown in Table 4, multiple correlation
coefficient for the linear combination of PowerPoint and motivation is 0.66 and its coefficient of determination is 0.38 which is significant at the level of p=0.001. Considering the obtained coefficient of determination, it was found that approximately 38 percent of the motivation variance is explained by PowerPoint and Whiteboard and Overhead cannot predict the achievement motivation.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
This research examines the relationship between the use of educational software and high school students’ achievement motivation. Results indicate that the use of educational software is associated with high motivation scores. Results of this research are consistent
installed on computers are selected properly and based on learning psychology principles, they will contribute greatly to students’ learning process. Using new technologies in addition to textbooks familiarizes students with the capabilities of computers and helps them overcome their fear of computers, extends the learning environment beyond textbooks, and increases students’ motivation.If computers, as multimedia educational environments, are designed properly, by providing information in various visual, audio, and written form, they will create an environment in which students will actively engage in learning. Learner's involvement with learning concepts not only results in deep and lasting learning but also motivates the individual to learn more, increases his sensitivity to development of his knowledge, understanding the relationships between the concepts and subjects and extending this sensitivity beyond the educational environment. Compatibility of computers with individual differences, which allows students to watch, listen to, and learn the course subject materials as many times as they want until they master them, motivates the individual to learn more and more successfully inside and outside the learning environment, which is the basis of the learning process and growth (Palak & Walls, 2009).The hypertextual characteristic of computers allows students to instantly leap from one level to another level and from one subject to another and access or review written or pictorial information available in the educational environment without limitation or predetermined beginning and ending and select the type and level of the information available in this environment freely and in a nonlinear way and follow their desired course. This characteristic not only affects students’ attitude and helps them enjoy learning, but also increases their self-confidence and creativity. Computers can also help teachers develop a learning situation that takes individual differences into consideration.Multimedia characteristic of computers which simultaneously engages all the senses of the students, increases learners’ concentration on the relationships between the learning concepts
and subjects, increases students’ enthusiasm for learning, and provides a rich learning environment with various learning experiences. Finally, proper use of this technology can create educational motivation both for learning and stimulating the curiosity for gaining information. In computer courses, since individuals are responsible for their learning, learning is more profound, the level of knowledge and awareness increases, and students are motivated. Teaching with the use of educational software as an independent teaching methodology can have a potential effect on achieving educational goals.Educational software programs must be taken into consideration due to their role in the learning process of the students. If these educational software programs are selected properly, they present the course material in a way that creates interest and motivation. These educational software in any type, including film, audio tapes, etc., have a significant role in increasing students’ interest in learning (Abedi, 2012).One of the limitations of the present research is the involvement of confounding variables. Also, lack of a scale for measuring the use of educational software is another limitation of this research. The only tool used in this research is questionnaire which is completed by the subjects; therefore, it is not without bias. Since the only sample studied in this research is first grade high school students in Imam Khomeini port, caution must be taken in generalizing the results of this research to the students of other cities and educational grades. It is recommended that qualitative research be conducted on the use of educational software. Results of the present research can provide teachers with a more comprehensive view of educational aids and help them select the most appropriate software. In addition, it is recommended that future researchers study the research variables in the form of an experimental project. On the other hand, investigating the role of mediating variables in the relationship between educational software and educational motivation in the form of a model can lead to useful results.
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