Running head: THE ROLE OF SELF- AND SOCIAL DIRECTED GOALS The role of self- and social directed goals in a problem-based, collaborative learning context THE ROLE OF SELF- AND SOCIAL DIRECTED GOALS

Introduction Personal goals as a source of—and directive function for—an individual's actions has been a central concept in research on motivation in learning contexts for several decades. In more recent empirical work, however, goals have been operationalized in more specific, situational, Garcia 1991). In light of these developments, it is startling to note that existing research into personal content goals has given limited attention to the evolution of the learning environments in which these goals arise. To date, most empirical research has examined personal content goals in environments that are implicitly designed for students' solo learning, either on their own or within a classroom setting. Research into the personal content goals which emerge in group learning activities remains greatly limited. Early research related to goals in collaborative learning activities was framed in a goal achievement orientation perspective, primarily centred on the influence of group goals on individual achievement. For example, a 1979 study by Johnson, Johnson and Tauer demonstrated that groups with a cooperative, interpersonal goal structure performed better than students in groups with a competitive or individualistic goal structure. In a study by Ortiz, Johnson, and Johnson (1996), students working on a small group activity in which individual success was contingent on the success of the group, and in which the group members were required to share essential materials, outperformed students whose small group activity was designed to foster an individualistic goal structure. More recent research has attempted to relate achievement goal orientation to various measures of the learning process. For example, Linnenbrink and Hruda (Linnenbrink 2005; Linnenbrink and Hruda 1999) found that individual and group goals can predict students' THE ROLE OF SELF-AND SOCIAL DIRECTED GOALS 3 engagement in metacognitive self-regulation, as well as their perceived quality of group interaction. Every aforementioned study, however, predominantly focused on achievement goal orientation. Yet as stressed by Boekaerts and colleagues (e. only a portion of a student's most meaningful personal content goals. This is especially pertinent with regard to group learning activities, where the social environment may generate additional or revised objectives. have highlighted a strong relationship between social support goals and the quality of a group learning activity. Their studies revealed that mastery and social responsibility goals were prevalent in effective teams, while learning for a certificate and entertainment goals emerged in ineffective teams. Wosnitza and Volet (2009a, b) describe a number of personal content goals spontaneously expressed by students …