| Description |
Learning via the Internet requires greater reliance on self-regulation (Artino & Stephens, 2009). Online students have easier access to both interesting related materials (i.e.,lesson-related videos) and unrelated materials (i.e., social media). Initial results from the Regulation of Motivation and Performance Online (RMAPO) project indicated that students given reasons to value learning basic HTML skills in an online lesson (valueadded) spent more time exploring on-task and off-task websites prior to submitting an assignment, relative to control; both were associated with greater lesson interest. The present study aimed to examine whether certain off-task websites or patterns of off-task behavior were most beneficial for interest. Websites were coded as following: on-task, non-lesson websites related to HTML coding, indirectly-lesson related, off-task social media, off-task personal interests, and other. Participants in value-added conditions (relative to control) were more likely to visit two types of off-task websites: indirectly lesson-related and personal interest. Further, accessing these two types of websites predicted greater interest and performance at lesson's end. The findings suggest that students given reasons to value learning may use off-task behavior as strategies to 1) seek additional information related to their developing interest on a topic, and 2) rejuvenate diminished resources through creation of interest. Addition of utility value may thus motivate students to reconfigure their learning process in service of having a more interesting experience using both on- and off-task means (Sansone & Thoman, 2005). |
