This is a case study in a Norwegian junior high school where pupils and teachers have been interviewed about the pupils’ school motivation. The purpose of this study is to find out how the pupils and the teachers experience how the pupils’ motivation for learning is affected by moving the education and teaching from the school building to a farm nearby. The recorded interviews were analyzed by qualitative thematic analysis. The pupils express that their motivation mostly is promoted by external motivational factors, such as the farm itself, supportive relations and practical work. Teachers’ experience show that pupils’ motivation is affected by both external and internal factors and they mean that the biggest outcome is the fact that it helps the pupils strengthen their school identity, personal development and become better citizens in the future. Important effects that promote motivation are adapting the education to the students’ proximal development zone, scaffolding support at the farm and close holistic collaboration around the pupils. Challenges with using a farm are financial and organizational. The results show that pupils and teachers are over all convinced that the farm as an alternative educational arena promotes pupils’ motivation for learning.

The purpose of incorporating digital educational games in educational settings is to engage the students' desire to learn. The aim of the syllabus for upper secondary school, as expressed by Skolverket (2011) is to support the students for lifelong learning and in order to do so, motivation is needed. However, a problematic gap can be found between “games” and “formal education” which are two different concepts which cross paths in this study. One path shows the foundation of the Swedish steering documents, and the other displays the motivational aspects of implementing digital educational games in educational settings. This qualitative research uses questionnaire surveys with structured questions and semi-structured follow-up interviews via email in order to examine to what degree digital educational games can be implemented in the English 6 classroom. It investigates the effectiveness of digital educational games in regard to English teaching and teachers’ attitudes and beliefs. The results display different approaches teachers could take when incorporating digital educational games in their classroom but also show significant factors such as teachers' experiences in the digital classroom. The research concludes that digital educational games can be used to encourage student motivation and in the teaching practices of upper secondary school teachers in Malmö. This is therefore an important area that should be further researched to ensure that teachers receive sufficient guidance and experience for using digital educational games in the English classroom.

The purpose of this study is to discuss further how an English teacher in a Swedish high school can utilize a novel like Jane Austen´s Pride and Prejudice in their classroom. This has been investigated by looking at how to use the book thematically with the class topic and by looking at activities and ideas used by teachers who have worked with the book in its entirety. Other aspects such as student motivation, catering to students' interests and needs and looking at what the teacher can do to make the reading experience exciting and relevant for their students have also been considered. By further investigating how the topic class is presented in Pride and Prejudice through the characters, their connections, and aspirations, this study has also tried to answer whether it is possible to discuss a topic like class in Pride and Prejudice without mentioning the relationships and marriage.

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Thesis advisor: David Miele / This dissertation adopts a fundamental needs perspective to examine the associations between first-year students’ reasons for attending college and their well-being. It extends Basic Psychological Needs Theory (BPNT; Ryan & Deci, 2017), by proposing that (a) meaning, safety, and status (in addition to autonomy, competence, and relatedness) are fundamental needs that students aim to satisfy in college, and (b) the salience of particular needs influences students’ goal-directed behavior and well-being. The first phase of the dissertation involved the development of three novel measures which were used in the second phase to explore different profiles of salient needs and their associations with college students’ experiences of need satisfaction, need conflict, and four outcome variables (GPA, intentions to persist toward graduation, psychological distress, and overall well-being).A latent profile analysis of the first wave of data (N= 512) identified three profiles based on students’ reasons for attending college: Weaker Reasons, Balanced Reasons, and Stronger Reasons. Subsequent analyses examined whether profile membership at Wave 1 predicted need satisfaction, need conflict, and the student outcomes at Wave 2 (n = 219). Results indicated that the Stronger Reasons profile was associated with higher levels of need satisfaction compared to the other two profiles, whereas the Balanced Reasons profile was associated with lower GPA and intentions to persist. Next, structural equation models were estimated to examine the relations between need satisfaction, need conflict, and the four outcomes. Results indicated that need satisfaction was positively associated with intentions to persist and well-being, but negatively related to distress, whereas need conflict positively predicted distress. Contrary to expectations, need conflict and need satisfaction were not significantly associated. Although additional research is needed to examine motivation profiles, findings from this dissertation study suggest that students attend college with different patterns of need-based motivations, and these profiles are related to important student outcomes. The dissertation also adds to the literature examining the association between need satisfaction and well-being, and suggests that need conflict is a construct worthy of additional inquiry. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

Many years of communication research have shown that an increase in immediacy has been a major factor that affects students‘ perceptions of instructor credibility which in turn affects, both students‘ cognitive and affective learning, student state motivation and a variety of other positive outcomes. However, in order for immediacy to be effective, instructor and student must be in the same location at the same time. With the recent push toward on-line classes, what can we find to act like immediacy in a text based format? This research suggests that face threat mitigation can be used in a text-based environment, to achieve the pro-social goals of instructor credibility and student state motivation to the same extent as it does when coupled with immediacy. This study is a replication of a study done by Witt and Kerssen-Griep (2012). In the original study face threat mitigation (FTM) was coupled with instructor nonverbal immediacy (NVI) and they examined the impact these factors had on instructor credibility (i.e., competence, character, and caring) and student state motivation in a video simulated feedback situation. This study surveyed 218 undergraduate students in an introductory communication course. Students were randomly assigned to read hypothetical scenarios in which FTM was manipulated in a manner similar to Witt and Kerssen-Griep‘s study. They responded to three scales. The current study removed the instructor by using a simulated electronic feedback correspondence. Results of a MANCOVA and four separate ANOVAs were similar to those of the original findings. FTM was found to have a significant positive relationship with instructor credibility (i.e., competence, character, and caring) and student state motivation.

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