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University courses often employ "one-size-fits-all" approaches, disregarding the heterogeneity in students' cognitive and motivational characteristics. This study evaluates an instructional method for online teaching in higher education called digital differentiation grid.In a randomized controlled trial with N = 438 university students (57% female, mean age M = 20.96 years), we investigated the effects of digital differentiation grids on students' motivation (self-concept, self-efficacy, intrinsic and utility task values), on their performance, and, because our sample consisted of teacher students, on their professional development with regard to inclusive education. Employing structural equation modeling, we found that the intervention positively affected the self-concepts of effort avoidant students. The intervention also positively impacted students' attitudes and self-efficacy towards inclusive education, but had no effect on course performance, course-related self-efficacy and task values. Moreover, learning analytics data revealed in-depth information on students' learning behavior. Results are discussed with regard to possible intervention strategies to be implemented in future versions of the learning environment.

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Learning processes that involve cognitive incongruity are closely tied to emotional experiences such as curiosity or confusion. The present study examined how discovering that a confidently held misconception is incorrect influences emotions and in turn the motivation to seek additional information. We asked 275 preservice teachers to judge if common statements about education were true or false and provided feedback about whether these statements were supported by scientific evidence. Following feedback, we assessed study participants' real-time (i.e., state level) epistemic emotions (surprise, curiosity, enjoyment, confusion, frustration, anxiety) and achievement emotions (anger, pride) produced by high-confidence errors (i.e., incorrect answers a person was confident in). We further examined whether providing additional information helped participants to resolve their discrepancy and to what extent emotions promoted participants' subsequent knowledge exploration. Our findings showed that participants were more surprised, curious, confused, and angry in situations where they found out a confidently held misconception was incorrect (i.e., after a high-confidence error) compared to misconceptions held with low confidence. Furthermore, participants reported more enjoyment in situations where they could resolve the discrepancy, and they were frustrated when the resolution of a discrepancy seemed impossible. In contrast to achievement-related anger and pride, participants' surprise, curiosity, confusion, and anxiety were associated with the exploration of knowledge. Finally, we tested whether the intraindividual effects would differ across individuals, but we found no evidence for such interindividual differences. Directions for future research and practical implications are discussed. Educational Impact and Implications StatementThis study showed that preservice teachers were surprised, curious, confused, or angry when they realized that what they believed to be certain educational knowledge was incorrect. Such emotional reactions to cognitive incongruity (except for anger) then increased the tendency that students explored additional information on a topic. Furthermore, students felt frustrated when this information did not contribute to reducing the incongruity, but felt enjoyment when more information helped to resolve it. Our findings provide insights into how emotional processes interact with preservice teachers' willingness to revise faulty parts of their knowledge, and with their success in doing so.

University courses often employ “one-size-fits-all” approaches, disregarding the heterogeneity in students’ cognitive and motivational characteristics. This intervention study reports on an individualized learning design for online teaching in higher education. In a randomized field experiment with N = 438 university students (57% female, mean age M = 20.96 years), we investigated the effects of the learning design on students’ motivation (self-concept, self-efficacy, intrinsic and utility task values), on their performance, and, because our sample consisted of teacher students, on their professional development with regard to inclusive education. Employing structural equation modeling, we found that the intervention positively affected the self-concepts of effort avoidant students. The intervention also positively impacted students’ attitudes and self-efficacy towards inclusive education, but had no effect on course performance, course-related self-efficacy and task values. Moreover, learning analytics data revealed in-depth information on students’ learning behavior. Results are discussed regarding possible intervention strategies to be implemented in future versions of the learning design.