The effectiveness of volition s upport (VoS) in promoting students’ effort regulation and performance in an online mathematics course

The purposes of this study were to investigate (a) the effects of volition support (VoS) on students’ motivation, effort regulation, and performance as well as (b) the perceptions of students about VoS in an online mathematics course offered at a community college. VoS was developed based on the theories of and research on volition (e.g., Corno in, Educ Res 22(2): 14–22, 1993 ; Gollwitzer in, Am Psychol 54: 493–503, 1999 ; Keller in, Technol Instr Cognit Learn 6(2): 79–104, 2008 ). VoS consists of the four stages: (1) goal initiation (“Want it”), (2) goal formation (“Plan for it”), (3) action control (“Do it”), and (4) emotion control (“Finish it”). A virtual change agent was designed into VoS to provide the support to students. Results indicated that the experimental group provided with VoS showed higher effort regulation and performance than a comparison group without VoS although there was no difference in motivation. Findings and implications for design of and research on VoS interventions are discussed.