Frederik Van Acker

Adopting the Integrative Model of Behaviour Prediction to explain teachers’ willingness to use ICT: a perspective for research on teachers’ ICT usage in pedagogical practices

Information and communication technology (ICT) can enable, support, and reinforce the introduction of new pedagogical practices that comply with the educational demands of the twenty-first-century knowledge society. However, despite this potential and despite the delivering of skills-based professional development and the increase in the level of ICT infrastructure, teachers are more often reluctant rather than willing to use ICT. This article reviews existing literature to 1) select a theoretical model that is suited to explain this, and 2) uncover important variables at various levels, including the individual and school organisation that should be included in the model. As a result, it adopts Fishbein’s Integrative Model of Behaviour Prediction (IMBP). This model forces the explicit consideration of dispositional variables including attitude, self-efficacy and subjective norm that are the direct and indirect antecedents of intentional ICT usage and real ICT use. Rather than concentrating on general ICT usage, IMBP is concerned with the use of specific ICT tools, such as digital learning materials. The authors believe that IMBP as a diagnostic tool will shed more light upon the issues surrounding teachers’ ICT usage.

The association between objectively measured physical activity and academic achievement in Dutch adolescents: findings from the GOALS study.

The main goal of this study was to investigate the association between objectively measured physical activity and academic achievement in adolescents. Students in Grades 7 and 9 (N = 255) were included. Overall, we found no significant dose-response association between physical activity and academic achievement. However, in Grade 7 total physical activity volume (Total PA) was negatively associated with academic achievement, while moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) was negatively associated with both academic achievement and mathematics performance. In contrast, in Grade 9 both Total PA and MVPA were positively associated with mathematics performance. In addition, the overall association between MVPA and academic achievement followed an inverted U-shaped curve. Finally, Total PA was positively associated with executive functioning, while executive functioning in turn mediated the associations between Total PA and both academic achievement and mathematics performance. These results indicate that the association between physical activity and academic achievement in adolescents is complex and might be affected by academic year, physical activity volume and intensity, and school grade.

Predicting teachers’ use of digital learning materials: combining self-determination theory and the integrative model of behaviour prediction

In this article, we report on a study that investigated the motivational (e.g. intrinsic motivation) and dispositional variables (e.g. attitudes) that determine teachers’ intention to use or not to use digital learning materials (DLMs). To understand the direct and indirect relationships between these variables, we replicated a study in which self-determination theory (SDT) and the theory of planned behaviour/integrated model of behaviour prediction (IMBP) are combined and a distinction was made between global level psychological needs, and contextual level as well as situational level motivational constructs. Using a sample of 1273 teachers, our preliminary findings support the findings of the previous study. The combined model potentially provides us with a more comprehensive explanation of teachers’ volitional behaviour regarding their use of DLMs in their pedagogical practices than would be possible on the basis of SDT or IMBP alone.

Does transformational leadership encourage teachers’ use of digital learning materials

To gain insight into how to promote teachers’ use of digital learning materials (DLMs) in their pedagogical practices we adopted the Integrated Model of Behaviour Prediction to investigate the relationships between organizational and teacher-related variables. A representative sample of 772 teachers from primary, secondary or vocational education took part in a survey study. Conjectured combinations of direct and indirect relationships between the variables were tested for the best model fit with structural equation modelling. The results suggest that a model with mediating relations from leadership through information and communication technology (ICT) policy and professional development activities to the variables self-efficacy, attitude and social norm, combined with direct relations from leadership to the latter, has the best fit for predicting teachers’ intention to use DLMs.

Physical activity and school absenteeism due to illness in adolescents

BACKGROUND Knowledge about the beneficial role of physical activity (PA) for health and school performance is growing. Studies investigating the link between PA and school absenteeism due to illness are lacking. Therefore, we investigated associations between habitual PA and school absenteeism due to illness in adolescents and explored whether mental health and cardiovascular fitness mediated this association. METHODS We studied 328 students in grades 7 and 9 (mean age 13.8 years; 49% boys). The PA was measured objectively by an ActivPAL3™ accelerometer attached on the thigh during 1 full week (24 hours/day). Depressive symptoms and self-esteem were self-reported by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, respectively, and included as a proxy for mental health in the analyses. Cardiovascular fitness was measured by the 20-m shuttle-run test. School absenteeism due to illness data was provided by the school administration. RESULTS The PA was not significantly associated with school absenteeism, though there was an indirect association between PA and school absenteeism by cardiovascular fitness. CONCLUSIONS Cardiovascular fitness mediates the association between PA and school absenteeism due to illness. Thus, cardiovascular fitness of students should be improved to reduce school absenteeism due to illness.