Abstract:The purpose of this study was to identify the factors that influence the acceptance of electronic collaboration technology by higher education students and that influence their predicted usage of the technology for virtual team collaboration. The research combined the unified theory of acceptance and usage of technology (UTAUT) with a virtual team-training model. All 108 participants completed a survey following their participation in virtual team 6 J. Godin et al.training. Ten hypotheses were tested using a structural equation modelling technique, partial least squares. Five of the hypotheses were supported and five were not supported. The results indicated that three of the four UTAUT constructs were significant in predicting whether the participants would use the collaboration technology in the future. Additionally, the findings revealed that the participants had a positive perception of the virtual teamwork training.
This study investigated the relationship among critical motivational variables and mathematics achievement as middle grades students engaged in a reform-oriented curriculum, Mathematics in Context. We tested 327 students in fifth, sixth, and seventh grade before and after two years of implementation. We performed a path analysis with subscales representing latent motivational variables and with achievement on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills as the outcome variable. The variables stimulation and control interacted to produce task interest, which, in turn, contributed to achievement gains. Effort was a byproduct of the stimulation afforded by the mathematical tasks. Attributions of success and failure were outcomes of interest. Utility mediated the effort on tasks and the attributions the tasks engendered. Results show that, with curriculum designed to emphasize utility and interest, students forged a high degree of motivation. Also, their achievement increased dramatically, in part, as a function of this increase in motivation.
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