ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors examine cognitive-motivational process model in the context of learning a hypermedia program. The model assumes that initial motivation affects learning through the mediating variables motivational state during learning and strategy used for learning. Initial motivation contains four factors: probability of success, anxiety, challenge, and interest. When working with the program the authors measured two mediating variables: the motivational state and strategy as time per page. The four factors of initial motivation have some intercorrelation, so they looked for common patterns in initial motivation through a hierarchical cluster analysis. To test if initial motivation affects learning through the motivational state and strategy the authors calculated regression analyses. The authors found that initial motivation affected learning only via strategy: more anxious and challenged learners spent more time per page but they learned less of the page’s content compared to success-oriented and interested learners.
