Increasing Student Motivation Without Compromising Student Performance in Online Classes

University Of Utah, Salt Lake City UT

Investigators

Abstract

Project Abstract: The main purpose of the project is to address the problem of keeping students in online courses motivated and on task in their learning activities. The study seeks to assess the potential tradeoffs in on line courses between designs that motivate or enhance interest (e.g. related links; multiple pathways) and designs that enhance on-task or in-depth learning. It is critical for successful learning in online courses that students self regulate their learning activities, since they are no longer in a supervised classroom setting. The project builds on a model the PIs developed called Self-Regulation of Motivation. The issue for research is how students construct their own learning tasks in light of their need to both reach learning goals and experience interest. The project will involve a series of experimental studies to assess the various featues of a on-line course that lead to higher interest and learning. The findings of the study have the potential to enhance on-line learning experience world wide regardless of academic discipline. Furthermore, on-line STEM instructors must develop courses that often involve multiple dimensions of knowledge (e.g., sensory experiences or experiments, a huge vocabulary to be learned/memorized, formalization of knowledge often involving abstract concepts). This embedded and complex learning of content knowledge requires that the orchestration of motivation and performance be known explicitly. The findings of the study have implications for design and delivery of online courses.