Using Motivational Systems Theory to explore factors that influence the teaching strategies of undergraduate social work faculty

The purpose of the study was to use Motivational Systems Theory (MST) to examine how use of learner-centered instructional methods varied based on faculty members' teaching goals, beliefs about their teaching abilities, and beliefs about the perceived adequacy of teaching resources, after controlling for experience and demographic factors. The population for this study was undergraduate social work educators with a minimum of one-year undergraduate social work education teaching experience. Findings indicate that undergraduate social work faculty rank higher-order thinking skills as the most essential teaching goal and consider "helping students develop higher order thinking skills" as their primary teaching role. Faculty were highly confident about their ability to effectively perform teaching activities. The majority of faculty perceived the adequacy of teaching resources as either satisfactory or good. Faculty used multiple teaching methods, including extensive lecture and reported a high level of use of learner-centered methods. Findings suggest that Motivational Systems Theory factors influence the use of learner-centered teaching methods. Specifically, teaching goals were significant predictors of the use of learner-centered methods.