The Four-Phase Model of Interest Development by Hidi and Renninger (2006) interpreted and illustrated by Beh. 

Contexts in source publication

Context 1

... findings of the study suggest that without a relationship between domain individual interest and technology interest, older adults do not tend to develop an interest in technology. On the other hand, when technology supported the domain interest of painting, older adults developed an interest in technology. The study also indicated that domain interest was associated with a sense of autonomy and ownership of technology. The learning of technology for its own sake or for the purpose of pleasing friends and relatives appeared to be associated with a low sense of autonomy. This research is encouraging in building an extended framework for the adoption of new technology such as mobile touch screen technology to support older adults’ interests. The findings from the study raise the question of the level of intervention required to motivate participants to develop their interests from phase one and two of situational interest and progress into phase three and four of individual interest. An investigation of motivation literature led the researchers to a collection of different motivation models and consequently they incorporated into their conceptual framework a second existing model – Self-Determination Theory (SDT) developed by Deci and Ryan (see Figure 2). We propose that SDT could act as a bridge between situational interest and individual interest in the Four- Phase Model of Interest Development, and tentatively named our proposed combined models as the Interest- Bridge Model (Figure 2). The current SDT model consisted of the following three elements – (a) autonomy, (b) competence and (c) relatedness. Based on manual extractions of keywords obtained from interviews with teachers and participants, observations of four older adults’ activity classes and background questionnaires, the three existing elements of the SDT model does not seem appropriate towards the role of learning in mobile touch screen technologies for older adults. We therefore propose to change two of the existing elements of the current SDT model in order to cater towards older adults. We suggest to replace competence by self-confidence and relatedness by life-satisfaction (refer to Figure 3). Autonomy promotes self-valuing. Self-confidence means being valued as an individual and part of a local community. Life-satisfaction expands on fulfilment of purposes, use and sharing of interests, existing knowledge, life experiences and providing peer- support to one another. This research focuses on the development of a promising theory on interest development in using new technologies by older adults. The next stage of this research will investigate ways in which older adults can be encouraged to move to higher levels of interest in the Four-Phase Model of Interest Development (Figure 1). The researchers plan to carry out a long-term study on employing their proposed Interest-Bridge Model (Figure 2) into running workshops teaching based on interest. The study will find out how the proposed model will help older adults with take-up of mobile touch screen technologies through their domain interests and the level of engagement required to enhance their learning experience. The roles of technology, interest in the uptake and long-term engagement of activities involving mobile touch screen technologies will be explored with groups of older adults using iPads to enhance established individual interests. This will also investigate whether well- developed interest in mobile touch screen ...

Context 2

... to provide technologies that are easy to learn, but also to consider the specific interests of older adults in order to facilitate a successful learning environment and make use of learning capabilities of older adults. Also a study by Waycott et al. (2012) shows that older adults need to see a purpose in using a technology in order to engage with it. The topic of interest in learning appeared more than one hundred years ago (Herbart, 1891; Dewey, 1910). After this initial appearance, it was encountered infrequently until the 1980s when it entered the field of educational psychology (Silvia, 2006). At present, research in interest is mainly associated with early learning and adolescence within a school environment of academic subjects such as sciences (Tapola et al., 2013), including physics (Lavonen et al., 2005), biology (Hagay et al., 2013) and mathematics (Wang, 2012) and languages (Tin, 2013). This concept has been rarely used for older adults. Interest constitutes the main theoretical concept of this research and is discussed in greater detail in this section. What is interest? Is it an emotion, a feeling or an affect? Is it considered positive or negative? Fredrickson (1998) has argued that interest is a positive emotion (in Silvia, 2006). Other theorists such as Renninger and Hidi (2011) do not consider interest as an emotion but rather as a feeling or affect. The development of interest based on individuals is complex, because people differ in levels and stabilities of their interests as interests may change (Hagay et al., 2013). This is usually determined by individuals’ experiences and prior knowledge. Furthermore, their levels of interest could either be considered deep or limited, depending on their initial interest and whether it develops over a certain period of time (Harackiewicz et al., 2008). There are also factors that contribute to the effects of individuals’ develop ment of interest, such as environment, culture and languages (Hagay et al., 2013). Within motivational concepts, interest has been distinguished as an important motivational variable (Tin, 2013). This is because it plays an important role in enhancing indi viduals’ learning experiences (Hagay et al., 2013). Interest is recognised by some as a drive to motivate individuals to put in effort to overcome obstacles that come with pursuing of tasks that are associated with deep learning (Tin, 2013) and expanding o f one’s existing knowledge (Ainley, 1998). Interest is further separated into situational interest and individual interest (Hidi and Renninger, 2006). Individual interest is associated with intrinsic motivation because it is considered a stable predisposition, content-specific (Hidi and Renninger, 2006) as it develops over time (Tin, 2013), through the interaction between an individual and his or her object of interest (Tin, 2013). Situational interest is fleeting , once triggered, it could either be maintained or disappear altogether (Hidi and Renninger, 2006). Ainley et al., (2002) have suggested that situational interest is usually associated with individuals who do not have any specific pre-existing individual interests. According to Hidi and Renninger (2006), there is a misconception that situational interest cannot be developed if it is non- existent. On the contrary, it could actually be nurtured over a period of time. Individual interest could be referred to as personal interest (Hidi and Renninger, 2006), which resides in individuals and is considered relatively stable, which indicates that individuals are able to re-engage with contents after a certain time (Hidi and Renninger, 2006). While individuals engage in a particular activity, they will expand their knowledge of that activity (Ainley et al., 2002). Situational interest is associated with support from the environment and may or may not last over time (Hidi and Renninger, 2006). According to Tin (2013), situational interest acts as a bridge in order to develop more stable individual interests. Despite older adults’ willingness to learn how to use a computer, they are usually faced with difficulties such as understanding technical terms, remembering steps to perform a task and using technology (Sayago and Blat, 2011). Importantly, older adults do not necessarily gain the support required to help with their learning of technology. Carroll et al. (2012) have suggested that if a learning model is both engaging and attainable, it has the potential to keep older adults interested and motivated in learning technology. Hence it is relevant to understand interest development in more detail. The Four-Phase Model of Interest Development developed by Hidi and Renninger (2006) (Figure 1) extends and expands on their earlier three-phase model published in 2002 (Krapp). The Four-Phase Model of Interest Development consists of the following – (a) phase one – triggered situational interest, (b) phase two – maintained situational interest, (c) phase three – emerging individual interest and (d) phase four – well-developed individual interest. Hidi and Renninger (2011) have suggested that triggered situational interest could be sparked by either environmental or textual features, as a psychological state resulting from short-term changes in both affective and cognitive processing. Maintained situational interest is described as subsequent to a triggered state. It typically occurs over an extended period of time, reoccurs persistently and involves focussed attention (Hidi and Renninger, 2011). In maintained situational interest, learners are drawn to understand more about particular content, and are inclined to ask questions about it, thus marking a shift in phase of interest (Renninger and Su, 2011). Emerging individual interest refers to the beginning phases of an enduring predisposition indicated by seeking repeated engagement with particular content over time. Well-developed individual interest is defined as showing a relatively enduring predisposition toward engaging with the particular content over time (Hidi and Renninger, 2006). Renninger and Su (2011) reported ...