Transcript Can the level of motivation to engage with a programme of

Eanan Strain
Academic Advisory Office,
NUI Maynooth,
Ireland
[email protected]
Career Guidance Counsellor
(Careers Advisor)
 Career Development Centre
Academic Advisor
 Academic Advisory Office
National University of Ireland
(NUI), Maynooth
Approx. <9000 full time
students
Web: www.nuim.ie
Learning support initiatives (NUIM):
 INSTALL: Learn to Learn (http://www.installproject.eu/)
 Maths Support Centre
(http://supportcentre.maths.nuim.ie/)
 Writing Centre (http://ctl.nuim.ie/studentlearning/academic-advisory-0)
 Student+ (http://ctl.nuim.ie/student-learning/student)
 L.I.S.T (http://library.nuim.ie/training/list)
 Teaching and Learning Showcase (http://ctl.nuim.ie/newsevents/teaching-and-learning-showcase-2013)
Limited / variable engagement with each of the above.
Motivation to engage waivers or does not exist, and
engagement falls / is low.
Aims:
…seeks to emphasise the importance of students’ active engagement with both
their studies and learning to learn programmes…
…to recommend the development of an intervention programme designed to
increase student motivation to engage (with L2L or other programmes of
study), which would run alongside current learning supports, would help
students adopt a deeper approach to their study. Evidence to support this idea
is presented in this paper.
How?
…particularly focusing on the impact ‘engagement motivation’ has on their
academic performance.
“‘engagement motive’ refers to any of the numerous factors that
contribute to student motivation for engaging with their programme of study.”
This paper reiterates the importance of developing student motivation so that
they can reap the benefits of learning support initiatives (eg learning to learn
programmes) and fully engage with their programme of study by reviewing a
selection of current literature and organising it into a recommendation.
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…Investigate how students engage with their programme
of study, and highlights a collection of literature from peer
reviewed journals that provide insight into the components
of motivation that give rise to such engagement.
A large amount of research available; attempt to organise
& present this info in this paper: autonomy, desire to
succeed, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and, self
regulation and discipline.
Papers have been selected because of its focus on student
engagement and how it highlights slightly different
perspectives on the conditions that may exist to facilitate
the development and maintenance of motivation among
students.
NUI Maynooth participated in INSTALL programme
during academic term 2012-13.
Difficulty observed:
 encouraging students to maintain their
attendance throughout the semester.
 Large effort to get students to:
(a) turn up to the classes, and
(b) engage when they did attend.
 need was identified to find a way of increasing
motivation among students for such learning to
learn programmes.
Irish Survey of Student Engagement 2013 (ISSE).
All universities and I.T.s in Ireland…100 questions about
different elements of their engagement in H.E.
 Responses from 1st year students are of importance as they
occur within the same context that the majority of learning
to learn programmes are run in H.E.
Sample of Results:
 70% of 1st year students “Never” “Talked about your career
plans with teaching staff or careers advisors.”
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26% “Never” and 38% “Sometimes” “Explored where to look
for jobs relevant to your interests”,
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37% “Never” and 34% “Sometimes” “Set career development
goals and plans.”
Large body of literature:
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“The transition period has a major impact on student retention. In the UK, for
instance, about two-thirds of withdrawals happen during or at the end of the first
year (Yorke, 2001).”
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Blaich, Wise, and Kuh 2011)…on average, if unsupported, students’ academic
motivation will decline throughout the first year of study in higher education.
…where students hold unrealistic perceptions of learning at university (Haggis and
Pouget, 2002) and absence of motivation (Baker, 2004)
Mikkonen, Ruohoniemi and Lindblom-Ylänne (2013), observed that “a heavy
workload was found to hinder interest-based studying (in veterinary medicine),
whereas clear future goals helped these students to remain committed.”
Main areas of focus:
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Autonomy
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Desire to succeed
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Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
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Self-regulation / discipline
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Additional points
Support from teaching staff, lecturers, tutors etc which promotes the
student’s perception of competence and autonomy (and relatedness) is
important.
 Baker (2004): students can develop high levels of intrinsic motivation
and low levels of a-motivation in an educational domain when they
receive support which enables them to be autonomous in their decisions
and choices by, eg, parents and teachers.
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Vallerand, Fortier & Guay (1997) found that in a study of high school
students “The less autonomy supportive the social agents' behaviours
are, the less positive are students' perceptions of competence and
autonomy.”
Deci, Eghrari, Patrick & Leone (1994)… if a person is given a meaningful
reason for engaging with uninteresting behaviour along with support for
their sense of autonomy and relatedness, they were able to internalise
and integrate their behaviour, which is useful for maintaining
motivation.
Allen (1999) report that:
“A strong desire for achievement may be seen
as an important component of student
motivation to complete college.”
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It seems that intrinsic motivation does have a very strong impact on
performance. Malone and Lepper (1987)
…that those who were more intrinsically motivated perceived themselves
to be more actively engaged with their learning environment than others
who were more ‘examination focused’. Benware and Deci (1984)
…“individuals who persisted in the course had reported at the beginning
of the semester being more intrinsically motivated, more identified and
integrated, and less amotivated toward academic activities than students
who dropped out of the course.” Vallerand & Bissonnette (1992)
Pintrich (2004) provide us with examples of how some students actively
attempt to raise their levels of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in
a bid to help them persist with meeting their course requirements.
Also see: (Garcia and Pintrich, 1994; Norem and Cantor, 1986).
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Schunk and Zimmerman (Eds.) (1998) …students’ motivation and
academic achievement can be increased by working with them to
increase their self-regulatory processes. They state that these
self-regulatory processes can be successfully taught.
Tuckman (2003) …found that students who received training
benefited from an increase in grades for the semester in which
the training took place, and the following semester.
In support of this: Zimmerman & Martinez-Pons (1986) conclude
that high academic achievement has a high correlation with the
quality and amount of self-regulatory processes used by
students.
Torenbeek, Jansen and Suhre (2012) found that Self-discipline
and motivation predict achievement indirectly through class
attendance.
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Course structure (eg in NUI Maynooth) offers a great deal of choice. Pros
VS Cons…
Mikkonen, Ruohoniemi and Lindblom-Ylänne (2013), show that where a
student has the ability to relate their present studies to future goals, it
helped students who expressed well-developed interest to build
motivation in elements of their course that did not touch on areas of
their individual interest.
…found that those students who didn’t have a utility for their course
after graduation had a weaker determination to continue studying.
Wingate (2007) compiled a framework for supporting student’s
transition to learning to learn in H.E. and concluded that:
‘As motivation and self-discipline contribute to academic success
(Komarraju, Karau, and Schmeck 2009; Tangney, Baumeister, and
Boone 2004), attention should be paid to these concepts from the
moment students enrol at university.’
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When engaged with learning, a student’s efficacy beliefs seem to be a
good predictor of performance; .” (Eccles et al., 1998).
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Wingate (2007) recommend that institutes of higher education (H.E.) provide students with
guidance on how to acquire knowledge, guidance on where knowledge comes from and what is
expected of them in H.E. e.g., in the first semester.
Students need to be supported to feel competent and autonomous in their behaviours
(Vallerand, Fortier, Guay, 1997), and in cases where this support is not present or positive, it
can lead to drop-out behaviour.
Pintrich (2004) examines the assessment of motivation and self-regulated learning in college
students and recommends that it is important to include self-efficacy (or expectancy)
constructs in models of university student learning.
Suhre, Jansen and Torenbeek (2013) commented that “the [student’s] perception of the
orientation quality enhances intrinsic motivation for the study activities, thereby enhancing
engagement in the course units and reducing experiences of academic pressure.’
Hidi and Renninger (2006), comment that “….individual interest has been found to have a
positive impact on attention, recognition, and recall persistence and effects academic
motivation and levels of learning.”
Mikkonen, Ruohoniemi and Lindblom-Ylänne (2013) show that well developed individual
interest can substitute for the motivating effects of clear future goals.
It seems that, yes. It can.
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Motivation to engage must be present for students to engage
with programmes which aim to develop the key competence
Learning to Learn. This paper investigates which factors
influence student motivation, and makes a recommendation
accordingly.
Follow recommendations made by the above literature:
 Create a model which could address the gaps in student motivation highlighted in
this paper and be formed into a programme which could run alongside current
learning to learn programmes
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…selection of that literature reviewed in this paper, arranged into a format that
may be used to structure a supplemental learning programme which would
address the needs of students in order for them to build sufficient motivation to
engage with a learning to learn programme, and their programme of study in
university.
This model outlines a type of intervention that may aid students build enough
motivation to help contribute to their engagement with a learning to learn
programme, and in turn help them achieve in their first year in university.
It is suggested that this model be developed into a programme that students take
alongside their academic programme of study, and learning to learning
initiatives.
It is not intended to replace, rather support, existing student interventions.
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Main themes
of the
literature
reviewed in
this paper are
presented in
the left-hand
column.
Shows where
certain factors
are present,
changes in
motivation can
result.
Some factors
combine with
others to
produce
positive
outcomes
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This paper is VERY broad, and therefore general in nature.
It doesn’t investigate any particular theme in great detail, so
more work needs to be done here. It does not delve deep enough
to allow for the development of a fully functioning ‘motivation
enhancing’ programme in a university environment
No detailed indication of how such a programme would be
developed in HE due to limits on this paper (word limit etc).
Lack of research available comparing students engaged with
programmes which aim to develop Learning to Learn who are
‘highly motivated’ to those who are ‘less motivated’.
Case studies from participating students would help…
Literature review:
The level of ‘Engagement Motive’ does make a difference to the development of Learning to Learn,
just as it does with other learning support programmes. If a student is not motivated to engage,
then
they may not reap the benefits offered by a particular programme.
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The need support in being autonomous to make choices and decisions…
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The need for autonomy and competence is the basis of intrinsic motivation and behaviour…
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Desire for achievement in a student is seen as a better predictor of academic performance than
a focus on achieving grades alone…
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Students’ motivation and academic achievement can be increased…
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Engagement is seen to increase where a person is given a meaningful and related reason to
perform a particular behaviour…
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A general model is presented in the discussion, which outlines a structure for a Motivation
Development training programme…
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Shortfalls identified point to the ‘general’ nature of this review and the model presented.
Recommendations are made for further investigation and trials to be conducted to realise any
benefit of this model.
Eanan Strain
Academic Advisory Office,
NUI Maynooth,
Ireland
[email protected]