Academic Motivation and Learning Strategies of Students at Lectures

Abstract

Motivation is considered one of the most important factors in the educational process, especially when it is about teaching university students in the time when online computer technologies are available, it helps to achieve better results in mastering new materials and learning procedure in general. The purpose of the work is to analyze the academic motivation of students and determine the relationship with educational strategies when working in lectures, that includes the practice of learning online with help of computer technologies. In order to increase academic motivation, it is necessary to improve the quality of education, as well as to find out the reasons that affect its level among students. To study the motivation of undergraduate students, we used the methodology of Gordeeva et al. As a result of the research, the predominance of intrinsic cognition and motivation of personal growth (14.61% and 14.31%), as well as motivation for self-respect and motivation of achievement (13.16% and 12.97%) as factors of high importance was confirmed. It was also discovered that students prefer to watch distant online lectures in the real time (simultaneously) more, than recorded ones (later watching), and motivation does not have any connection with this factor. Longhand writing is more common for students than writing notes in computer and the strategy to write with a pen/pencil has the direct connection with motivation for personal growth and motivation of self-respect. Also, younger students prefer to make notes during the lectures more than older learners. It was also found that younger students are more likely to make notes with colored markers and female students are more likely to make notes with colored markers than male students. Active participation on lectures has many connections with motivation to learn.