Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation in Distance Education: A Self-Determination Perspective

ABSTRACT

Motivation activates and sustains one’s behaviors toward a goal, and it is one of the most important factors affecting students’ learning outcomes, especially for online learning. With the widespread of COVID-19, distance education has become more prevalent in today’s universities and colleges. Understanding college students’ motivation in taking online classes becomes more urgent for instructors to prepare, organize, and deliver their teaching materials effectively. This research is built upon self-determination theory to explore how specific online learning activities affect students’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and online learning performance. The results suggest that online learning activities may not promote students’ motivation and learning performance if those activities are not well-designed and developed. The learning activities need to be tailored to the specific coursework, and continuous improvements and revisions are necessary to make learning activities more effective in the course delivery. This study also provides evidence that extrinsic motivation could play a more crucial role than intrinsic motivation, and older students could be more self-motivated in online learning environments. Besides, amotivation may be considered a potential measure for the healthiness of online classes.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.