Technology -mediated assessment in a secondary manufacturing technology program: A study of the relationship between participants' goal-orientation and the calibration of performance expectations to performance feedback.
Wahlstrom, Darryl Anselm
2001
Abstract
This study addresses the stated need for research on individuals' cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses to assessment outcomes and processes. Since employment candidates often lack relevant basic, technical, and organizational skills required for high performance workplaces, skill assessment and concomitant developmental feedback have become increasingly important. Two hundred ten (N = 210) secondary vocational and technical education students from four counties of Southeastern Michigan completed a technology-mediated skill assessment process (e.g., <italic>AccuVision</italic>(TM) Workplace Success Skills). Students received feedback on their actual performance on five interactive skills: Facilitation, influence, commitment to quality, customer service orientation, and problems solving. Feedback also included students' calibration accuracy---that is, those skills where students over- or under-estimated their abilities. A correlational research design was used to investigate students' reactions to this feedback and to explore the relationship between students' post-assessment motivation (self-efficacy and feedback seeking intent) and their goal orientation, calibration accuracy, and cognitive perceptions (utility, fairness, and perceived threat). Results from hierarchical multiple regression indicate certain main (direct) effects. Students adopting mastery goals held adaptive motivational beliefs including high levels of self-efficacy and feedback seeking intentions. Students oriented toward performance-approach goals also held high levels of self-efficacy. Performance-avoidant goals were not predictive of students' post-assessment motivation. Structural equation models were used to test possible mediational channels. For three interactive skills (facilitation, influence, and customer service orientation), calibration accuracy mediated the relationship between students' goal orientation and their post-assessment motivation. Students adopting either mastery or performance-approach goals under-estimated their abilities less at higher levels of goal adoption. Over-estimation of abilities led to significantly higher levels of feedback seeking intentions. A second mediational model indicates that mastery-oriented students underestimated their problem solving abilities, which led to greater levels of feedback utility and post-assessment motivation. This result is interesting because it demonstrates an instance where students' motivation is heightened by positive rather than negative feedback discrepancies. The fact that utility---not fairness or perceived threat---positively predicted students' post-assessment motivation likely stems from the developmental nature of the pilot program. Results from the study are discussed in relation to students' motives for goal adoption.Subjects
Calibration Feedback Goal Orientation Manufacturing Technology Participants Performance Expectations Program Relationship Secondary Study Technology-mediated Assessment
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