Abstract:

Educators across the world are frustrated with the challenge of how to motivate the ever increasing number of young students entering university who appear to be psychologically, socially, and academically unprepared for the demands of university life. In the UK, at least, twenty-first century, fee paying students seem to demand more than ever before: they expect courses to be fun to take part in and allow plenty of time for social interaction and revelry; they appear increasingly driven by marks and even a mild spell of disengagement can quickly lead to an unwelcome request for a course transfer. So providing motivators, beyond those gained by the award of marks is a key challenge. Focusing on full time undergraduate students in engineering, the author set out on an HEA sponsored International Scholarship to find out if this is purely a British disease and to learn how innovative colleagues around the world are providing intrinsic motivators.

Using surveys and focus groups of first year students, students across three continents were quizzed about the preconceptions they brought with them on what to expect and how to study and how they had been translated into reality. They were asked what motivates them to study and how well they connected their grades with actual learning. There was very little detectable difference in the responses according to their geography and culture but they were universally critical of their weaker teachers and in equal praise of the ones they consider good performers. Their descriptions of what makes a good and a bad teacher were strikingly consistent. In consideration of the curriculum, ‘task value’ has been described by previous motivational researchers in education and refers to the students’ evaluation of how interesting, how important, and how useful the task is. This was found to be hugely influential but sadly, often lacking. Interviewees frequently developed this argument making references to the exercise of creativity or, more pertinently, apparently necessary bureaucratic prescriptions such that tend to stifle it. On the other hand, students and their institutions commonly demand highly detailed definitions for each piece of work to comply with today’s quality assurance procedures. There appears to be a conflict, therefore, between the need to define coursework exercises clearly and the intrinsic motivation derived from self-expression and the exercise of creative thought.

Keywords:

Motivation, Engagement, Creativity, International.