Abstract:

The issue of maintaining the educational motivation of University students during distance learning is relevant. This is especially important because the transition to remote technologies is a forced, rather than a voluntary decision of the students themselves. Previously, we have shown that while maintaining a certain level of academic success, students of different courses have a lower level of subjective well-being and feel less confident and happy. The purpose of this article is to study the educational motivation of 1st-year students during forced distance learning.

We hypothesized that the process of forced distance learning affects the level of educational motivation, but this depends on the students' readiness for such a situation.

Methods:
The study involved 160 1st-year students of the Department of Psychology of the Ural Federal University (132 females and 28 males). The predominance of females in the sample is related to the specifics of the study group-students of the Department of Psychology. The study was conducted in April (72 participants, students of 2019 admission, abbreviated as «group A») and in October (88 participants, students of 2020 admission, abbreviated as «group B»). Features of groups: «A» – for the first time faced with a situation of forced learning; «B» – faced this situation at school and were warned about the possible transition to distance learning in University. The cross-section method was used. To measure the level of educational motivation, we used the author's methodology Educational Motivation Inventory (EMI). Additionally, H. Schuler’s Achievement Motivation Inventory (abbreviated version) was used. Mathematical measurements: analysis of variance, correlation analysis.

Results:
In general, there are no serious problems with educational motivation in both groups: avoidance motivation within the average norm; externally oriented motivation (rating improvement, graduation, evaluation by others), and internally oriented motivation (competition with oneself, striving to make efforts despite difficulties) – above average. Nevertheless, there are some differences. Students who are ready for a distance learning situation («B») have significantly higher motivation to avoid and anxiety about the results of educational activities (F=10.16; p=0.00), as well as socially desirable motivation, the desire to be no worse than others (F=13.36; p=0.00). At the same time, students who were not ready for the situation of distance learning («A») have a more pronounced demotivation, unwillingness to study in conditions of forced distance learning (F=10.30; p=0.00). These groups of students do not differ significantly in their desire to make extra effort to achieve high educational results (F=3.15; p=0.08). There is a specific structure of educational motivation among students of these two groups. Learning academic anxiety is negatively associated with educational demotivation in group A (r= -0.23; p<0.05), whereas for group В unwillingness to learn, and learning anxiety are in orthogonal relations. The conclusion is that readiness for the situation of forced distance learning reduces the risk of unwillingness to be involved in the educational process, helps to maintain a high academic rating, but does not guarantee peace of mind and confidence in the situation of forced distance learning.

Keywords:

Educational motivation, forced distance learning, university students.