Predictive relationships between adult students’ achievement goal orientations, course evaluations, and performance

•We examined the relations among goal orientations, achievement, and course evaluations.•We directly observed goal effects across different pedagogical activities and forms of assessment.•Partial least squares (PLS) path modeling was used to test the proposed predictions of our model.•Pedagogical practices were linked to course evaluations as a function of goal orientations.•The effects of goal orientations on performance were different across the two forms of assessment.

We examined the predictive relations between adult students’ achievement goal orientations, course evaluations and performance. The data were collected from 88 Finnish National Defence University students during one course that comprised of two distinct pedagogical phases and forms of assessment. Mastery-intrinsic orientation predicted positively students’ course evaluations, but was unrelated to performance. Performance-approach orientation was unrelated to students’ course evaluations, predicted negatively skill demonstration, but was unrelated to literature examination. Students’ course evaluations correlated across the two phases, but the performance outcomes did not. Course satisfaction was weakly predicted by skill demonstration, but unrelated to literature examination. The results suggest that performance and students’ course evaluations are to some extent influenced by goal orientations concomitantly with different pedagogical practices.