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1. Five Steps to Improve Student Motivation in Your College Courses

   Getty, S. (July 2021, Journal on excellence in college teaching)

   To improve student motivation, we propose a five-step process that entails learning about a motivation framework, identifying students’ motivational challenges based on that framework, adopting interventions to address those challenges, and assessing the effectiveness of your interventions. In particular, we recommend adopting the Expectancy-Value-Cost framework of motivation, which suggests motivation is optimized when students expect that they can successfully complete a task, value that task, and have limited barriers (i.e., costs) preventing them from engaging in the task. We also present data from two college psychology courses to offer an example of how to engage in the five-step process. Keywords: Motivation, Expectancy-Value-Cost framework of Motivation, Expectancy-Value Theory, Motivational planning 

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2. Motivators Matter When Gamifying Learning Activities

   https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_89  

   Dichev, C.; Dicheva, D.; Ismailova, R. (March 2023, 25th International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning (ICL2022))

   Auer, M.E.; Pachatz, W.; Rüütmann, T. (Ed.)

   Gamification, the use of game design elements in non-game contexts, has become a promising strategy for enhancing learners’ motivation, engagement, and performance. However, our understanding of how the motivational affordances of gamification interact with the motivational drivers engendered by a learning activity is still limited. In most of the studies the focus is on the role of the incorporated gamification elements, disregarding motivational factors associated with the learning activity, such as perceived utility, expectancy of success, and needed effort to complete it. Expectancy-Value model offers a practical method for estimating the level and quality of learners’ motivation towards a particular task as it accounts for both intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. Employing this model can shed a new light on the motivational potential of educational gamification. Accordingly, in this paper we present experiments with Expectancy-Value-Cost scale (EVC) as an instrument for estimating the level of students’ motivation towards a gamified learning activity. We studied empirically how the motivational factors measured by EVC relate to the level of learners’ engagement in gamified practicing and assessed their predictive qualities. 

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3. Exploring Students’ Perceived Values, Cost, and Barriers for Inclusive and Diverse Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

   https://doi.org/10.1177/25151274241263070  

   Kulturel-Konak, Sadan; Konak, Abdullah; Leung, Ada (June 2024, Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy)

   Student innovation competitions and programs (ICPs), including hackathons, start-up competitions, and customer discovery labs, have had a transformative impact on the higher education entrepreneurial ecosystem. They have also facilitated students’ experiences in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). However, there is a disparity in the number of underrepresented students and dominant student groups participating in STEM fields. While research supports the benefits of ICP participation, literature discussing students’ perceptions of these programs remains limited. This study addresses three research questions about participation motivation (perceived values and associated costs), participation barriers, and differing perceptions among groups. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 38 students (25 females/13 males, 17 participants/21 non-participants). The analysis focused on the Situated Expectancy-Value Theory (SEVT) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). The research findings contribute to fostering diversity and inclusion within educational or professional environments by uncovering values (e.g., acquiring professional skills) and costs (e.g., opportunity costs) that students associate with motivation to engage in ICPs. Institutional and individual barriers were identified, including limited program awareness, lack of diversity, and identity mismatch. Therefore, the study intends to inform STEM educators and ICP organizers, foster inclusivity and diversity in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, and offer guidance for interventions. 

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4. Instructional Supports for Motivation Trajectories in Introductory College Engineering

   https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584221083662  

   Robinson, Kristy A.; Lira, Amalia Krystal; Walton, S. Patrick; Briedis, Daina; Linnenbrink-Garcia, Lisa (January 2022, AERA Open)

   Students, instructors, and policy makers are in need of research-based recommendations for supporting students’ motivation to pursue STEM fields. The present study addressed this need by examining relations between perceived motivational supports, year-long trajectories of expectancy for success and three task values, and grades among students ( N = 1,021) in a large, gateway engineering course. Results indicated that students with higher motivation at the beginning of the year tended to perceive their class as more motivationally supportive. Controlling for relations between initial motivation and perceptions, perceived instructional supports for mastery goals, autonomy, and competence predicted more positive trajectories of all three task values. Conversely, higher perceived instructor performance goals negatively predicted grades and the slopes of self-efficacy and interest value. Results contribute key understanding about the interconnectedness of individual motivation and climate perceptions, while indicating the importance students place on certain motivationally supportive practices in promoting students’ STEM motivation trajectories. 

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5. Appealing to Faculty Gatekeepers: Motivational Processes for Intentions to Adopt an Evidence-B ased Intervention

   https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biac029  

   McPartlan, Peter; Thoman, Dustin_B; Poe, Jennifer; A_Herrera, Felisha; Smith, Jessi_L (June 2022, BioScience)

   Abstract What motivates faculty teaching gateway courses to consider adopting an evidence-based classroom intervention? In this nationally representative study of biology faculty members in the United States (N = 422), we used expectancy–value–cost theory to understand three convergent motivational processes the faculty members’ underlying intentions to adopt an exemplar evidence-based classroom intervention: the utility value intervention (UVI). Although the faculty members perceived the intervention as valuable, self-reported intentions to implement it were degraded by concerns about costs and lower expectancies for successful implementation. Structural equation modeling revealed that the faculty members reporting lower intentions to adopt it tended to be White and to identify as male and had many years of teaching or were from a more research-focused university. These personal, departmental, and institutional factors mapped onto value, expectancies, and cost perceptions uniquely, showing that each process was a necessary but insufficient way to inspire intentions to adopt the UVI. Our findings suggest multifaceted, context-responsive appeals to support faculty member motivation to scale up adoption of evidence-based classroom interventions. 

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