Academics’ motivations in professional training courses: effects on learning engagement and learning gains

ABSTRACT

Although professional training or development opportunities can help university academics to expand their competences and implement high quality educational practices, academics differ in the extent to which they engage in such learning opportunities and their resulting learning gains. A theoretical explanation for these differences involves their motivations in the form of achievement goals. Accordingly, in the current study we investigated the effects of academics’ achievement goals on their learning engagement and learning gains in professional development courses. Forty-eight German university academics completed assessments of achievement goals prior to course participation, their learning engagement during the course (three short assessments measuring: effort, learning intensity, risk-taking, elaboration, implementation, and persistence), and their learning gains afterwards. Latent growth curve modeling revealed a significant influence of achievement goals on the overall levels of learning engagement. Specifically, learning-approach goals led to more functional learning engagement while work-avoidance goals led to less functional learning engagement. Further analyses confirmed that academics’ achievement goals were related to the amount they learned, mediated by their learning engagement. These findings highlight the importance of supporting academics’ achievement goals to ensure quality learning experiences.

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© 2021 Martin Daumiller et al. Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

KEYWORDS:

• Achievement goals
• faculty
• learning engagement
• learning gains
• professional development
• university scholars

Acknowledgments

We thank Christian Eibl and Susanne Reeß for their help with conducting the study and data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the German Research Foundation under [Grant DR 454/8-1].

Notes on contributors

Martin Daumiller

Martin Daumiller is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Augsburg, Germany. His research interests focus on motivation and the fostering of motivation in educational settings, Achievement Goal Theory, as well as the experiences, behaviors, and performance of academics.

R. Rinas

R. Rinas is a doctoral student in the Department of Psychology at the University of Augsburg, Germany. Her primary research focus involves the motivation and subjective well-being of higher education teachers.

D. Olden

D. Olden is a graduate student in the Interdisciplinary Research in Teaching and Learning Program at the University of Augsburg, Germany. Her research interests include learning motivation, transfer, and favorable learning environments.

M. Dresel

M. Dresel is a full professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Augsburg, Germany. His research interests include motivation and motivational development in educational settings, self-regulated learning, teacher development, as well as evaluation and development of instructional quality.