For Educational Inclusiveness: Design and Implementation of an Intelligent Tutoring System for Student-Athletes Based on Self-Determination Theory

Angxuan Chen, Huaiya Liu, Kam-Cheong Li and Jiyou Jia ()
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Angxuan Chen: Department of Educational Technology, Graduate School of Education, Peking University, No. 5 Yiheyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100871, China
Huaiya Liu: Department of Educational Technology, Graduate School of Education, Peking University, No. 5 Yiheyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100871, China
Kam-Cheong Li: School of Open Learning, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, 30 Good Shepherd Street, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
Jiyou Jia: Department of Educational Technology, Graduate School of Education, Peking University, No. 5 Yiheyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100871, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 20, 1-12

Abstract: Student-athletes frequently struggle to strike a balance between their academic and athletic responsibilities. Various factors, such as age and competitive level, contribute to differences in their academic motivation and identity, showcasing the multifaceted needs they possess. While self-determination theory (SDT) has been proven effective for explaining student-athletes academic needs, its integration into learning design for this group remains limited. The developing AI technology, especially the Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS), offers the potential for creating personalized learning environments that can cater to the varying levels of motivation among student-athletes within the framework of SDT. Therefore, our paper explored how to build an SDT-based ITS for student-athletes to enhance their academic engagement and motivation. A two-stage experiment was conducted for: (a) identifying academic challenges faced by student-athletes in an online ITS; (b) evaluating the effectiveness of an SDT-based ITS design; and (c) exploring how autonomy, competence, and relatedness design affect their motivation. Results revealed that student-athletes face three challenges in learning in ITS: inflexible technology, identity missing, and mismatched learning difficulty. However, a significant improvement in academic engagement and motivation was shown when student-athletes faced an SDT-based ITS. In the meantime, the athletic motivation, which leads them to higher athletic performance, remains preserved and unaffected, showing a favorable outcome for student-athletes. This paper can provide practical implications for building a more inclusive and diverse learning environment for student-athletes.

Keywords: student-athletes; intelligent tutoring system; self-determination theory; academic learning; educational inclusiveness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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