This document summarizes research on motivational and affective aspects in technology enhanced learning. It discusses how motivation is key to knowledge work and learning. Research in this area has been fragmented across different fields. Motivation can influence individuals to share knowledge, use tools, and adapt to new developments. Motivation to learn relates to implicit interest and explicit goals. Motivation to share knowledge is influenced by collaboration and social dynamics. Emotions are an emerging topic in technology enhanced learning with challenges that include a lack of common language and representations of emotions. The relationship between emotions, motivation, and learning outcomes is complex.

1. Motivational &
Affective Aspects in
Technology Enhanced Learning:
Topics, Results
and Research Route
Teresa Holocher-Ertl,
Christine Kunzmann, Lars Müller,
Verónica Rivera Pelayo, Andreas Schmidt
ECTEL2013,Sep2013–http://matel.professional-learning.eu

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Motivation is key for knowledge work
“Knowledge workers are those people who
have taken responsibility for their work lives.
They continually strive to understand the
world around them and modify their work
practices and behaviors to better meet their
personal and organizational objectives. No
one tells them what to do. They do not take
No for an answer. They are self motivated.”
David Gurteen

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And emotions, too.
Although often not acknowledged

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Research has been fragmented.
Knowledge Management CSCW
HCI
Psychology
HR Development
Sensor engineering
Economics
Each with different ideas of
man, research methodologies, …

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V
MATEL 2010 MATEL 2011
MATEL 2012

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Motivation –
the story so far

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Motivation has many facets
 motivate individuals to share knowledge?
 motivate to use tools (like we designed them)?
 motivate to learn?
 motivate to adapt to new developments?

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Motivation to learn
 What moves or hinders learners to learn
 relationship of motivation and goals
• "implicit" (interest, challenge-based)
• "explicit" motivation (goal-oriented, which can be "assessed"),
 These can conflict
• explicit goals can stifle implicit interest.
• The challenge lies in balancing these two aspects.
 Setting goals, monitoring progress, and self-reflection
promote motivation (Holocher-Ertl et al. 2011)

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Motivation to share
 Influence of
collaboration (Holocher-Ertl
et al 2010)
 Social dilemma &
reasons for free-riding
(Cress 2010)
 Role of self-
presentation
(Schwaemmle et al. 2010)
 Ethnographic field
studies in the context
of MATURE
Kunzmann & Schmidt 2009

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Motivation to use a specific tool
 Is not specific to TEL, but embedded in a broader
research stream on user acceptance and satisfaction
 Many concepts and approaches, ranging from usability,
joy of use to user experience
 Popular approach: gamification
• Using game mechanisms, e.g., leaderboards, scores
(Parra et al. 2012)

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Emotions

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Affective Aspects
 Emerging topic
 First prototypes and studies
Common understanding of the role of
emotional aspects
 Broad base of theory from psychology
 Complicated and difficult to apply in a design process
 Circumplex Model of Affect by Russell & Krathwohl’s model

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Affective Aspects in TEL: Purposes & Goal
 Specific approaches to apply technology in a learning
context
Adaptive systems
Raising awareness, reflection
Influence and regulate emotions

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Affective Aspects in TEL: Challenges
 Lack of a common language
 Multiple visualizations and representations
 No universal preference to express and communicate emotions
 Dependent on the current personal context

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Affective Aspects in TEL: Barriers and concerns
 Not seek to replace human perception,
but rather to augment it.
 Problematic assumptions
(Voigt et al., 2011)
• Oversimplifying assumptions
• Assumption of uniformity
• Idealistic assumptions about cognitive and
affective support in communities

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Conclusions: Affective & motivational aspects
 Emotions
• low level of abstraction, close to observation
• Short-lived and quick to change
• Effects on learning very complex
differences between short-term and long-term effects
• Emerging research area with incoherent streams
 Motivation
• Higher level of abstraction
• More stable and more easily to be linked to learning processes
• Research area higher level of maturity

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Conclusions: Relationship of affective and
motivational aspects
 The relationship between emotions and learning outcome
(and work performance) is not an easy one – negative
emotions can increase the learning and work performance.
 The relationship between emotions and motivation is
likewise not an easy one.
 The role of emotions (and motivation) increases in informal
learning contexts compared to formal context as in formal
context “having to do sth.” overcomes temporary emotional
and motivational aspects.

20. Acknowledgements:
 Picture: poisson rouge sautant d'un aquarium
© Simon Coste #543847 – fotolia.com
 Others from http://sxc.hu
• http://www.sxc.hu/photo/319939_6613
• http://www.sxc.hu/photo/143622_4281
• http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1156284_39977081
• http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1169790_27775290
• http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1275937_97948668
• http://www.sxc.hu/photo/462280_61402643
• http://www.sxc.hu/photo/61022_7814