Exploring the student experience in low-cost intrinsic motivation course conversions

Abstract

The low-cost intrinsic motivation (IM) course conversion project aims to promote the adoption of education innovations, lowering the costs of these innovations by promoting students' intrinsic motivation to learn and to invest in their own education. We have piloted and scaled the IM course conversion of a large enrollment, sophomore-level engineering course. As part of a broader evaluation, we interviewed 31 students to better understand how the IM course conversion affected students' motivations to learn. During these interviews, students described their experiences in the course as a story from the beginning to the end of the semester. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed with an open coding scheme focused on motivational and affective statements. Preliminary analysis indicates that strategic choices, positive team dynamics, and productive failures in the learning process all contribute to promoting students' intrinsic motivation to learn in both pilot and full scale IM course conversions.

Game—Constructivist Exercises to Enhance Teaching of Probability and Statistics for Engineers

“…Mismatches between the way engineering students learn and traditional teaching styles have been well documented as often resulting in student boredom, low grades, loss of interest in engineering as a major, and even increased dropout rates Silverman 1988, Felder et al 2000). As a result, it is not surprising that student motivation and engagement are often reported as low and problematic, which might lead to deficient understanding of foundational concepts (Trenshaw et al 2013).…”