Students generate items for an online formative assessment: Is it motivating?

Area of Science:

• Educational Technology
• Online Learning Environments
• Student Motivation

Background:

• E-learning often struggles with maintaining student motivation.
• A proposed framework assesses e-learning task motivation through perceived value, competence, autonomy, and relatedness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test a framework explaining the motivational value of e-learning tasks.
• To investigate factors influencing student engagement and achievement in online learning.

Main Methods:

• Students created and answered questions in an online environment.
• Motivation was measured via task engagement, questionnaires, and the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ).

Main Results:

• Student-generated content increased task value and relatedness.
• Engagement differences were linked to self-regulation, time management, and effort regulation.
• Student engagement significantly correlated with academic achievement, even after controlling for prior performance.

Conclusions:

• The study validates a framework for e-learning motivation based on perceived competence, autonomy, value, and relatedness.
• Student-generated tasks enhance perceived value and relatedness.
• Effective instruction can foster student competence and engagement in online tasks.