Abstract:

Recently, global trends in technological development have brought about innovations in educational paradigms. An innovative approach that can improve students' practical learning outcomes and psychological state during practical skills training necessitated this study. The present study investigated the impact of technology-enhanced problem-based learning facilitated via the use of course blogs, lecture slides, online assessment apps (Kahoot, Poll Everywhere, Flubaroo, and Slido), videos, and student-created social media groups (Facebook and WhatsApp) on intrinsic motivations, ability beliefs, engagement, and practical skills outcomes among vocational and technical education students across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria at two time points. The study adopted a quasi-experimental research design and selected three hundred and fifteen students at penultimate and final year majoring in agricultural education, business education, computer education, home economics, and industrial technical education who met the study's inclusion criteria. The intervention consisted of eight weeks of treatment. We adapted the existing intrinsic motivation, ability belief, engagement instrument while the practical skill outcome was based on the Dreyfus model of practical skills acquisition. Analysis of variance, t-tests for independent samples, and Chi-Squared were used for data analysis. The outcome indicated that technology-enhanced problem-based learning improved students' practical skill outcomes and significantly influenced students' intrinsic motivation, ability beliefs, and engagement in the treatment group compared to their control group counterparts. The study showed no significant main difference across the control group. Thus, the current study suggests that VTE instructors should adopt a blend of technology and student-centered teaching approaches to improve students' learning outcomes, mainly because access to teaching and learning resources is limited.

Keywords:

Technology enhanced learning, problem-based learning, intrinsic motivation, ability beliefs, engagement, practical skill training.