What students expect may have more impact than what they know or feel

Researchers of educational technologies are often asked to do the impossible: make students learn and have them enjoy it. These two objectives, though not mutually exclusive, are frequently at odds with each other. Effective learning strategies require active knowledge use on the part of the student. Meanwhile, students typically seek to learn through the path of least effort. This can cause conflict during system interaction, and it is often the case that attitudes toward the learning environment suffer. The current study indicates that students' prior expectations of what technology can (or cannot) do may actually have a greater impact than their initial level of motivation, previous domain knowledge, and familiarity with technology, combined. Knowing these prior expectations may be a crucial step to help researchers perform the impossible.