Progress in education has led to extensive studies, focusing on explanatory and predictive theoretical tenets that feature centrally in the teaching and learning processes. A synthesis of the empirical literature indicates that one major focus entails the importance of quality learning and enriched academic well-being experiences at school. Recently, we introduced a new concept for research development, titled optimized functioning, which is an expansion of the notionm of optimization. Quantitative validation of optimized functioning indicates a multifaceted structure, which consists of four major components: personal resolve, pathways and means, effective functioning, and school experience. We advance this avenue of inquiry by exploring the impact of optimized functioning, in its totality. Specifically, in the context of secondary school learning, we focus on the predictor-and-outcome pattern of optimized functioning with reference to the following motivational and psychosocial processes: enactive learning experience, task values, and the two major approaches to learning. Does academic success facilitate and heighten one's state of optimized functioning? Does optimized functioning lead to an adoption of a deep approach to learning? We used structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze the correlational data collected ('N'=229 Year 10 students); MPlus 7.3 yielded some key findings, for example: (i) the positive impact of enactive impact on task values, a deep approach, and academic achievement, (ii) the positive impact of optimized functioning on a surface approach to learning and academic achievement, (iii) the negative impact of a surface approach to learning on academic achievement, and (iv) the positive indirect impact of enactive learning experience on academic achievement, mediated via task values and then optimized functioning.

The formation of self-efficacy, according to Bandura's (1997) social- cognitive theory, is an important area of inquiry. This theoretical tenet posits the importance of enactive learning experience, followed by lesser influences of vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and emotional and physiological states. Quantitative research, predominantly, has produced clear and consistent evidence that supports this position. We argue that the elementary school years may indicate differently, whereby children's limited cognitive maturity and learning experiences could compel them to rely on other psychosocial informational sources. To date and to our knowledge, very few studies, if any, have explored the sustained influence of enactive learning experience across time. In this study, consequently, we tested a sequential predictive model that involved the differential influences of the 4 major informational sources on self-efficacy and then self-efficacy on academic achievement. Three time points of data (N = 328, Year 6) were collected across the calendar year, and Mplus 7.3 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998-2012) was used to assist us in our structural modeling testing. At Time 1, only enactive learning experience and vicarious experience positively influenced self-efficacy. At Time 2, after controlling for prior variance of Time 1 corresponding factors, only enactive learning experience remained significant. At Time 3, after controlling for autoregressive paths, enactive learning experience remained significant, and both verbal persuasion and emotional and physiological states positively influenced self-efficacy. The impact of self-efficacy on academic achievement was significant across the 3 occasions (βs = .20-.46).

This study examined the causal and mediating relations between students’ learning approaches, self-efficacy beliefs, stages of reflective thinking, and academic performance. Second-year undergraduate students (n = 241; 118 females, 123 males) in the South Pacific were administered the revised version of Biggs' Study Process Questionnaire, the Reflective Thinking Questionnaire, and the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. Latent variables analysis indicated that a surface learning approach contributed to the prediction of habitual action, and a deep learning approach predicted understanding and self-efficacy. Self-efficacy directly predicted the stages of reflective thinking, with the exception of critical thinking, and understanding negatively predicted academic performance. Finally, with the exception of critical thinking, the stages of reflective thinking were found to relate causally in a unidimensional manner.

The present investigation, involving two cross-sectional studies, focused on the positive impact of effective functioning on achievement-related outcomes. This theoretical orientation, recently introduced (Fraillon, 2004), falls within the framework of student well-being in academic settings. Based on our preliminary research, published previously, we developed a theoretical-conceptual model that included optimism, mastery-approach goals, and motivation towards learning. We tested the hypothesized model with two comparative cohorts: Year 12 students (N = 306) and University (N = 342) students. Data were collected based on responses of Likert-scale inventories, and MPlus 7.3 was used to test the proposed 'a priori' model. Evidence ascertained indicates similar but also varying patterns in associations, for example: (i) the positive influences of effective functioning on optimism, mastery-approach goals, and motivation towards learning, (ii), the positive influences of optimism, mastery-approach goals, and motivation towards learning on academic achievement for the secondary school cohort, and (iii) the mediating mechanisms of optimism, mastery-approach goals, and motivation towards learning for the secondary school cohort, and the mediating mechanism of motivation towards learning for the university cohort.

School, like a second home, is a complex place that espouses different psychosocial experiences and influences. Aside from academic achievement, it is important for educators to recognize that there are other educational and noneducational successes, for example, the importance of social and psychological adjustment (e.g. proactive peer-peer relationship), the adoption of altruistic values and moralistic ideals, and individuals' willingness to accept cultural diversity and individual differences. It is in society's best interest that schools explore the pathways and means to assist students in their achievements of non-academic outcomes. Our work regarding the concept of optimal achievement best (Phan 2015; Phan, Ngu, and Williams In-press 2016) has produced some notable yields for consideration. Optimal achievement best is of significance for its emphasis on the striving of successful outcomes that reflects an individual's fullest capacity. Its characteristics, in a similar vein, indicate a positive, non-deficit positioning regarding human behaviors. This article, overall, focuses on an examination of optimal achievement best and how this theoretical orientation could account for and explain the non-academic attributes of successful schooling.

The study of effective learning and optimal schooling experiences is an important focus of inquiry in the field of Education. Why do some students show more inclination towards mastery, deep learning, and personal interests in schooling? Why do some students., in contrast, express discontentment, and work-avoidance behaviours (e.g., disengagement)? These questions have led to ongoing research development of theoretical models that could explain, account, and enhance educational outcomes and schooling experiences. We recently conceptualized a holistic framework of student well-being experiences that takes into consideration the combined influences of personal, motivational, affective, and social processes of schooling (Phan, In press-2015a; Phan & Ngu, In press-2015a). In this theoretical chapter, we discuss in detail eight distinctive components of student well-being experiences that we believe could foster and optimize positive educational and non-educational outcomes: optimized functioning, liking for school experience, emotional well-being, relating to others, personal well-being at school, appreciation and value, daily functioning, and academic striving.

This research article reports on two correlational studies that examined the notion of 'optimized functioning'. Optimized functioning, introduced in a recent published study, offers an alternative approach into the understanding of optimization. Optimized functioning is proposed to consist of four distinctive components: personal resolve, pathways and means, social milieu, and effective functioning. Study 1 ('N' = 259) involved a factor analysis of the Optimized Functioning Questionnaire (OFQ). EFA and CFA procedures were used and the produced findings indicate support for a correlated four-factor model. Study 2 ('N' = 239) focused on the potential impacts of the four components of optimized functioning on personal well-being and academic engagement. For personal well-being in school contexts, we focused on two major attributes that encourage deep, meaningful learning: interest in learning tasks and motivation towards learning. SEM procedures produced a number of notable findings, such as (i) the positive differential impacts of the four components on optimized functioning on adaptive outcomes (e.g., the positive impact of effective functioning on academic engagement), and (ii) identification of trajectories that result in enhanced learning outcome (e.g., the direct impact of personal resolve on achievement outcome, mediated via interest in learning tasks and then academic engagement).

Background. Research evidence seems to suggest that the social and cultural environments influence students' approaches to their study. This social and cultural contention has led to the rethinking and reconceptualization of theories (e.g. Biggs, 1987; Marton & Säljö, 1976) pertaining to student approaches to learning (SAL) in academic settings. Aims. The present research discusses two separate empirical studies on student learning approaches situated in the South Pacific region with two respective cohorts of secondary students. Study I involved the examination of secondary Pacific Islands students in their learning approaches using a modified version of Biggs' (1987) original Learning Process Questionnaire (LPQ). Study II involved the administration of a revised version of the LPQ (R-LPQ-2F; Kember, Biggs, & Leung, 2004) to another cohort of secondary Pacific Islands students. Sample. The first sample included 2,150 (1,285 girls, 865 boys) students and the second sample included 2,295 (1,363 girls, 932 boys) students. Methods. The factor structures of approaches to learning were examined by means of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using the LISREL program. Different a priori models were hypothesized and tested. Results. Results of Study I indicated a two-factor structure solution to Biggs' LPQ, supporting Richardson's (1994) theoretical model of learning and emphasized the factors of 'Reproducing and Meaning'. Study II indicated a hierarchical organization of two main study approaches - deep and surface - that are structured as higher-order factors and a defined by four first-order factors. Conclusion. The results from the two studies accentuate the important argument for the rethinking and reconceptualization of learning approaches, as well as for the redevelopment and modification of learning inventories such as the LPQ. They also suggest the importance of situating the theoretical paradigm of learning approaches in a social and cultural environment.

Teaching and learning via online delivery is increasingly becoming a norm for many higher education institutions worldwide. This alternative form of learning is characteristically unique and serves a number of purposes - for example, it is cost effective and convenient for full-time workers who wish to pursue academic studies, part time. Consequently, the acceptance of this mode has led to a rethinking in pedagogical strategies for educators and researchers alike. Educators and researchers have developed and used a myriad of innovations (e.g., animated pedagogical agents) to stimulate students' interests, intellectual curiosities, and to enhance critical thinking skills. Despite the effectiveness and advantages of online delivery, there are a number of pressing issues for continuing consideration and research development. Notably, one aspect that has received appreciable emphases is the cultivation of a social milieu, online, that may yield characteristics reflective of a traditional, face-to-face (FTF) classroom. Note worthy of this, for example, is a need for us to create a sense of realism (e.g., dynamic interaction) in students' learning. In a similar manner, there is recognition for educators to emulate a learning climate that binds learners, disregard of time and geographical differences. This feat, in our view, is not simplistic and entails a number of complexities that require continuing conceptualization. The main tenet of this chapter details a brief theoretical overview of online delivery in higher education contexts, and three identified issues that relate dialectically to this pedagogical approach to teaching and learning: (i) experiential feelings of realism; (ii) the facilitation, if possible, of critical thinking skills in an online learning climate; and (iii) the importance of cognitive overload in the presentation of information for online learning. We conclude this chapter with a scoping of recommendations for continuing research development and advancement. There are, in this analysis, a number of pressing issues for educators and researchers to consider - for example, how does the paradigm of online delivery relate to individuals' cognitive processes for learning?

In recent years, the Saudi Arabian government and educationists have expressed concerns about the low level of achievement in English among students in schools and universities. To improve English learning and achievement in Saudi Arabia, many research studies in motivation and learning have shown that four major indicators of active learning are: (i) group work, (ii) situated learning, (iii) elaborated feedback, and (iv) information communication technology [ICT] use in classroom instruction. This explanatory mixed-methods study, longitudinal in nature, explored the use of these four indicators of active learning on the enhancement of Saudi students' motivational constructs (i.e., self-efficacy, task value, academic buoyancy, and effort expenditure), engagement (i.e., vigor, dedication, and absorption), and English achievement. In particular, the present study sought to investigate two main research aims: (i) the impact of an eight-week intervention program (incorporating the four indicators of active learning) on students' motivational constructs, engagement, and academic achievement in English, and (ii) the relationships between the motivational factors, engagement, and academic achievement at three time points (e.g., the predictive impact of Time 1 self-efficacy on Time 1 academic buoyancy). Participants of this study were 289 male university students enrolled in an English unit at the University of Hail in Saudi Arabia. The quantitative phase of this study encompassed experimental and correlational emphasis, involving the undertaking of a two-group experimental comparison with 145 participants in the Experimental Group and 144 participants in the Control Group. Data collection during the quantitative phase spanned three time points: Time 1 (collected before the intervention), Time 2 (collected in the middle of the intervention), and Time 3 (collected after the intervention). At each of the three time points, the students of both the Experimental Group and the Control Group completed the same measure of the motivational variables, engagement, and English achievement test. Upon the completion of Time 3, a qualitative component (in the form of semi-structured interviews) was conducted with students from the Experimental Group to obtain deeper insights into the effectiveness of the intervention program. The findings of the first aim of this study indicated that the Experimental Group, exposed to the intervention program including the four indicators of active learning, scored significantly higher than the Control Group on the motivational constructs, engagement, and English achievement. Specifically, the results of repeated measures ANOVA and follow-up t-tests showed that the intervention had small effects on all the variables at Time 2 (in the middle of the intervention). However, at Time 3 (after the intervention), the intervention had small impacts on task value and effort expenditure, moderate impacts on dedication and academic achievement, and large impacts on self-efficacy, academic buoyancy, vigor, and absorption. The qualitative semi-structured interviews augmented these findings by providing a vital context for in-depth understanding of how and what aspects of each of the four indicators of active learning contributed to the gains in the motivational variables, engagement, and English achievement. To address the second aim of this study (i.e., the relationships between the motivational variables, engagement, and academic achievement at Time 1, Time 2, and Time 3), structural equation modelling procedures were used. The results yielded some key findings, supporting in part the hypotheses tested. For example, Time 1 self-efficacy significantly predicted Time 1 academic buoyancy; Time 1 task value significantly predicted Time 1 effort expenditure; and Time 1 vigor significantly predicted Time 1 academic achievement. In general, the evidence obtained provides important implications for further research development and educational practices.