This study endeavors to identify ways to promote a productive learning culture in higher education. Specifically, we sought to encourage development of internal values in students' culture of learning and examine how this can promote their understanding of scientific content. Set in a high enrollment undergraduate biology course, we designed a technology-enhanced learning environment in which we gradually introduced features designed to promote this culture. These features included digital resources and socio-constructivist activities that reshaped students' and instructors' roles. In this paper we focus on the relation between this design and indications of internal values in students' learning processes. Data from 76 student interviews were analyzed phenomenographically using the Culture of Learning Continuum conceptual framework developed in this study, which synthesizes perspectives from education, psychology and sociology. Findings indicate that the intervention succeeded in promoting an internal value-based culture of learning, which enabled students to develop deeper understanding of scientific content.