Motivation and well-being of university students in online courses during social distancing: The role of supporting the satisfaction of the basic need for relatedness
Creators: name: Capon-Sieber, Vanda
Publisher: name: Open Science Framework
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Educational Psychology
subject: Education
subject: Social and Behavioral Sciences
subject: Psychology
subject: FOS: Psychology

description: An important aspect of teaching quality is whether teachers succeed in supporting their students’ basic needs (e.g. Klieme, Pauli, &amp; Reusser, 2009; Kunter &amp; Trautwein, 2013; Praetorius, Klieme, Herbert, &amp; Pinger, 2018; Ryan &amp; Deci, 2000; Standage, Duda, &amp; Ntoumanis, 2005), namely the need for competence (desire for effectiveness and mastery, Deci &amp; Ryan, 2002; White, 1959), the need for relatedness (desire for close and warm relationships, Baumeister &amp; Leary, 1995; Deci &amp; Ryan, 2002) and the need for autonomy (desire to experience volition, choice and personal freedom; Deci &amp; Ryan, 1985; Vansteenkiste, Niemiec, &amp; Soenens, 2010). The satisfaction of basic needs is seen as a prerequisite for motivation and well-being (Ryan &amp; Deci, 2000). It is unclear, however, how student support can currently be provided, given the social isolation for Swiss university students due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the related necessity to teach via electronic formats. As the lack of direct social interaction is one of the most central aspects during the isolation, the planned publication specifically focuses on teachers supporting their students in this respect, thus on university teachers relatedness supportive behavior towards students (Standage et al., 2005) and the subsequent satisfaction of the basic need for relatedness (Baumeister &amp; Leary, 1995; Deci &amp; Ryan, 2002). It is expected that students who perceive their university teachers as relatedness supportive, experience more relatedness satisfaction and subsequently more motivation and well-being despite the challenges of being socially isolated (Mediation). However, research focusing on individual differences has shown that not everyone benefits equally from the satisfaction of basic needs (matching hypothesis, Schüler &amp; Brandstätter, 2013; Schüler, Sheldon, &amp; Fröhlich, 2010). In studies focusing on various basic needs in different life domains (academic learning context, in sports, at the workplace) the authors of the matching hypothesis have shown that the effects of basic need satisfaction depend on the strength of the corresponding motive. For example, they found that people with a high affiliation motive benefited more from the satisfaction of the basic need for relatedness (Schüler et al., 2017; Schüler &amp; Brandstätter, 2013). The affiliation motive is described as the wish to establish, maintain or restore positive relationships with others (Schultheiss &amp; Pang, 2007). Referring to the actual situation, we expect that people with a high affiliation motive suffer more strongly from social distancing. This should be reflected in less satisfaction in everyday life since the introduction of social distancing measures compared to their peers with a low affiliation motive. Second, following the tenets of the matching hypothesis, we expect students with a high affiliation motive to benefit stronger from relatedness need satisfaction in terms of motivation and well-being during online classes (Moderated mediation)1. Beneath focusing on testing the mediation model on relatedness (Ryan &amp; Deci, 2000), and the moderated mediation model (Schüler et al., 2010) the present study also aims to consider some of the overall conditions of teaching remotely during social distancing measures, namely the communication channels used by the university teachers (i.e. video chat, podcast, etc.) and the format of the course (i.e. lecture, seminar). Both aspects are expected to affect the abovementioned relationship between relatedness support, relatedness satisfaction and well-being and motivation. Whereas the communication channels chosen by the university teachers themselves are not expected to directly affect students’ need satisfaction, as their effectiveness largely depends on how teachers implement them, we expect the choice of different communication channels to provide the conditions to facilitate or impede the effects of relatedness need supportive behavior (see Decristan et al., 2015; Decristan, Hess, Holzberger, &amp; Praetorius, 2020 for the interplay of so-called sight structures of a lesson and deep structures of learning). Following this logic, we hypothesize that the positive effects of relatedness support on relatedness satisfaction are moderated by the inherent interactive potential of the communication channels used. In a similar vein, we expect that the type of course taught might influence the degree to which relatedness support is possible, the degree to which students experience the satisfaction of their need for relatedness, and their general motivation. Among others, seminars provide ample opportunities for university teachers to interact with their students, lectures are often associated with teacher-centered learning and less interaction between university teachers and students (Bär, Rößling, &amp; Mühlhäuser, 2004; Young, Robinson, &amp; Alberts, 2009). Thus, we expect that the format influences the degree of relatedness supportive behavior. The present study which is preregistered here is part of a larger research project on e-learning at a Swiss university during the COVID-19 pandemic from student and university teacher perspective called “Motivation and well-being of university students and teachers during isolation: The role of supporting the satisfaction of basic needs with an emphasis on relatedness “. Future publications are planned within the project which will not be preregistered here, due to time constraints and resources. Within this preregistration a focus is put on the student. Both the student and university teacher questionnaire are available upon request. Future publications will consider the following topics: - Concordance between student and teacher ratings on relatedness supportive teaching behaviors. - Factors affecting teaching practices and well-being of university teachers during COVID-19 pandemic. Footnote: 1Please note that the matching hypothesis is often tested with implicit motives, which reflect non-conscious and affect-based preferences for certain incentives (e.g. feeling related). Those implicit motives are reflected in long term operant behavior and strongly affect non-declarative measures, such as task-performance or physiological responses (e.g. Schultheiss, 2008; Wegner, Bohnacker, Mempel, Teubel, and Schüler, 2014). 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