Hello,

I am Don Johnson at the University of Arkansas and, on behalf of myself and co-presenter Michael Pate at Utah State University, thank you for visiting our poster on Using Self-Efficacy Theory to Design Instruction.

Michael and I both teach introductory math- and science-intensive technology courses to undergraduates who often lack any experience or previous coursework in technology. As documented both in the literature and by our own experiences, novice students studying technical subjects often fail at introductory tasks, which results in decreased interest, low self-efficacy, and future avoidance of the subject. We applied Bandura’s (1986) self-efficacy theory to the design of an introductory microcontroller programming lesson and laboratory activity in a first-year course. According to Bandura, task self-efficacy is enhanced when students have positive mastery, social persuasion, and vicarious experiences.

Our instructional treatment built purposeful opportunities for these positive experiences into the lesson
and the lab activity. Our pre- and posttest results indicated a statistically significant and large increase in both student interest in learning about microcontroller programming and in programming self-efficacy. These increases were 1.2 and 1.9 SDs, respectively. We strongly encourage other instructors to consider self-efficacy theory when designing instruction for novice students.

Thank you for listening and we look forward to visiting with you in Traverse City!