Self-Regulation
Motivation
Since the COVID-19 lockdown, a noticeable decline in student motivation has been observed, particularly with the transition to distance learning. This study explores how motivational processes impact the quality of mobile learning, analyzing factors that enhance students’ motivation to learn in isolated settings and identifying key demotivating factors that affect the quality of mobile learning..
Motivation: A Foundation for Learning
Online learning, which gained widespread adoption in the mid-1990s, is considered a form of mobile learning made possible by technology that allows learners to study remotely. Research indicates that a lack of motivation hinders the acquisition of knowledge and skills, even for the most capable students. Motivation serves as the essential driver for completing learning tasks and is critical to the success of mobile learning.
Motivation can be categorized into three types:
- Intrinsic motivation: Engaging in an activity for its inherent satisfaction, rather than to achieve an external outcome.
- Extrinsic motivation: Completing a task to attain a specific outcome.
- Amotivation: The absence of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
Teachers can positively influence motivation by providing quality feedback, both positive and negative. It has been shown that positive feedback should significantly outweigh negative feedback to foster student engagement.
While gamification gained traction in the 1990s, its adoption in educational contexts has been slower compared to its widespread use in business. However, evidence suggests that gamification can effectively boost student engagement and performance.
Internal v.s External Motivation
A study conducted with 200 students and 46 teachers from The University of Jordan and Jordan University of Science and Technology revealed several insights into motivational factors.
- Intrinsic Motivational Factors: Of the 200 students surveyed, 178 indicated that intrinsic motivation significantly influenced their interest in mobile learning. 156 students favored mobile learning because they recognized the importance of continuously updating their knowledge and skills. Self-regulation was a key internal factor that influenced motivation, as mobile learning required students to develop new learning habits—a challenge for many.
- Extrinsic Motivational Factors: Teachers’ influence on student motivation can be both positive and negative. Some students expressed discomfort with reaching out to teachers for help, while others noted that larger video call groups made them feel more comfortable sharing their thoughts compared to smaller groups. Features embedded in learning platforms, such as user-friendly design, also increased motivation.
Demotivating Factors
Several demotivating factors were identified:
- Organizational issues, such as poorly designed or undifferentiated learning materials and lectures, were seen as less valuable by students.
- Noisy and distracting environments made it challenging for students to fully engage with the learning process.
Recommendations That Can Improve the Online Learning Experience
The authors outlined several strategies to enhance the mobile learning experience:
- Provide rewards to help students achieve their learning goals, promoting self-motivation and independence.
- Involve students in curriculum development, allowing them to express their preferences on class content, while maintaining the essential balance between theory and practice to meet learning objectives.
- Offer quality and timely feedback to students.
- Integrate gamification techniques and technologies to boost engagement.
- Create a flexible educational system that involves both teachers and students in selecting various digital platforms, rather than focusing on a single platform.
- Develop mechanisms for mental health support and career counseling through electronic meeting platforms.
- Promote group-based online training to enhance peer learning.
- Incorporate clinical simulation training into online education.
Notable Quotes:
“Research has shown that students feel motivated when there are more people in a class.”
“Among the major advantages of mobile learning that influence students’ motivation, they point out a comfortable and relaxing learning environment, saving money and time, and health safety.”
“Gamification can play a major role in boosting students’ motivation to learn.”
Personal Takeaway:
While the authors did not list any major takeaways, there were a few bits of information that contradicted what I would have assumed to be true about online learning. First, students were more motivated in large class sizes and felt uncomfortable in smaller groups (like breakout rooms on Zoom). While breakout rooms can sometimes bring more pressure, it was interesting that students preferred to share in a larger, whole-class setting when online. Secondly, teachers should be given more autonomy to select a digital platform (ie. Google Classroom, Zoom, Teams) that they feel most comfortable with. While potentially different in a university setting than K-12, each institution would usually have a uniform policy outlining what platforms should be used.—Matt Browne
Al-Said, K. (2023). Influence of teacher on student motivation: Opportunities to increase motivational factors during mobile learning. Education and Information Technologies, 28(10), 13439-13457.
