The place of the collective in motivation to learn. Important, but informal [Thesis].

"The part of the collective in motivation and its impact on well-being as a mediator of student success" is the doctoral thesis in Educational Sciences of Jean HEUTTE defended in 2011 at the University of Paris X La Défense.

The thesis is based on 7 studies conducted with more than 700 students. Among the results, it emerges that if "working alone" tends to generate failure, "working in a group", with or without the use of the Internet, does not necessarily promote success.

So what favors success?

While the affirmation of the importance of "always alone, but never without others" for learning appears very clearly reaffirmed, it seems necessary, however, to reposition more pragmatically (modestly) the question of "learning in groups" or "learning in collectives" towards "learning with others".

Thus, the form of collectives for learning would not be a condition, but a consequence of individual actions, specifically the motivation of students to "not learn alone." This leads to the concept of the "individually motivated collective"

"Working alone" promotes failure, as demonstrated by the survey, but "working in groups" does not necessarily promote success. Thus, while "not working alone" presumably means "working with others," those others do not necessarily constitute a group.

However, perceived affiliation with students is related to their sense of collective efficacy, and a sense of collective efficacy enhances cognitive absorption: thus, others do impact individual success.

The place of the instructor

The author deduces the central place of the pedagogue, constructor of the device, recalling that from the research work, it emerges that:

• the perception of affiliation with teachers is related to the students' sense of self-efficacy;

• the perception of affiliation with teachers has an impact on the well-being of students.

From these considerations, it thus emerges that the teaching profession is clearly a profession of design and relationship.

Information

Besides the interesting ideas, this thesis provides several useful insights, of which the following are some samples:

"Constituents of cognitive absorption in the course setting:

• a balance of challenge and skill;
• clear goals;
• student control of action;
• reactive feedback. "

"Internet use is not specifically linked with learning in groups. However, regardless of the students' profiles, we also find that their sense of self-efficacy in using ICT is low to very low.

In these circumstances and taking into account the low perception of affiliation among students, this seems quite understandable. Clearly, the supposedly native skills of the "digital natives", coming from the "generation Y", do not necessarily seem to be commonly shared by all students. Indirectly, our results confirm a need for student training, in particular so that they master at least the skills of the computer and internet certificate (C2i) level 1."

• "Thus, in the particular context of studies, the quality of interpersonal relationships with teachers seems to be a determining antecedent of students' psychological well-being."
  
  
• "In the end, the only recommendation consists mainly in advising them NOT to prepare for the competitive examination alone if they want to have a better chance of passing it"
  
  
• "Obviously, students enrolled in CRPE preparation are not autotelic!" (autotelic: Who undertakes an activity for no other purpose than the intense satisfaction it provides, speaking of a person).

The thesis "The part of the collective in motivation and its impact on well-being as a mediator of student success: complementarities and contributions between self-determination, self-efficacy and autotelicism." is available for download on Mr. Heutte's website.