Effects of Instructional Strategies and Conceptual Levels on Students' Motivation and Achievement in a Technology Course

This study examined the impact of teachers' instruction strategies and college students' conceptual levels on the students' achievement and motivation to learn in a course devoted to the study of computer technologies. Previous research on students studying nontechnical subjects, such as social studies, English, and mathematics, has suggested that students with high conceptual levels are more motivated and obtain greater achievement when instructed using nondirect methods; conversely, students with low conceptual levels are more motivated and perform better when instructed with direct methods. Although these interactions were not realized in this study, interesting statistically significant main effects were discovered. Regardless of conceptual-level, students in the nondirect instruction method group had greater motivation than students exposed to direct instruction. Additionally, high conceptual-level students had greater achievement than low conceptual-level students. These results should be considered by instructors of computer technology courses and are worthy of additional research.