Motivation of engineering students in higher education

Abstract

This paper examines motivational factors affecting higher education (HE) students in the Faculty of Technology at the University of Portsmouth. A reliable identification of motivational factors would usefully inform pedagogical interventions. Students who are more intrinsically motivated may benefit from less prescriptive assignments which offer more freedom to choose from “formative” assessment topics in which they have a greater personal interest. Those who are more extrinsically motivated, where the final “summative” grade is thought of as the most important, may be less influenced by pedagogical styles. The investigatory approaches employed in this study to assess motivation discover different results. While questionnaire responses indicate that students operate both intrinsically and extrinsically, semi-structured interviews found little evidence of the former, with most students indicating that they operate extrinsically.

Appendix A

The questionnaire was presented where the student had to respond based on a 5 point Likert scale between strongly agree and strongly disagree.

1. I try my best to reach the academic standards that I set.

2. It is important to me to do well at this degree.

3. I try different strategies to achieve my academic goals when I have difficulties.

4. I set myself realistic but challenging academic goals.

5. When I have difficulties in reaching my goals, I make a renewed effort to ensure I achieve my goals.

6. I write and re-write my academic assignments in order to achieve.

7. When I have conflicts about the time I spend on achieving I re-think my priorities.

8. I value achievement in academic work.

9. I have positive feedback from my lecturers on my ability in academic work.

10. I feel able to meet the challenge of performing well in this course.

11. I read widely on a number of academic topics outside of my degree area.

12. I always feel like I choose the things I do.

13. I do what I do because it interests me.

14. I enjoy doing this course very much.

15. I participate in class discussions to improve my understanding in academic matters.

16. I try to pay attention to my teachers in order to learn as much as I can.

17. I take personal responsibility for my academic learning.

18. I plan to seek out information when necessary and take steps to master it.

19. I try to achieve academically because I like the rewards it brings to me.

20. I try to achieve academically because I like the challenges it brings.

21. After finishing each module, I felt pretty competent.

22. I like the social relationships involved in academic work.

Appendix B

Examples of questions asked of the students during the interview.

• Can you think about a lecturer that you felt was motivating and one you felt wasn’t motivating and tell me the characteristics of each of them?

• Can you think about an academic assessment that you felt was motivating and one you felt wasn’t motivating and tell me the characteristics of each of them?

• Can you think about an academic task that you felt was motivating and one you felt wasn’t motivating and tell me the characteristics of each of them?

• Can you think about a teaching technique that you felt was motivating and one you felt wasn’t motivating and tell me the characteristics of each of them?

• Can you give an example of when you had finished a unit and you felt confident using the material from that unit? Why did you feel confident?