Motivation in Online Learning

Online learning is accepted as an effective educational learning process that can respond to rapidly and constantly changing learner needs. Increasing the quality of online learning is an important point to be addressed. Within this context, motivation in online learning that affects what learners will learn, how they will learn, and when they will learn is one of the most important components because the motivation of learners has a very important place in terms of achieving desired goals in the learning and teaching process. It is not easy to continuously motivate learners in online learning process over a long period. Creating the motivation of everyone involved in the learning and teaching process is very important in terms of the efficiency and quality of the process. Within the context of a theoretical framework, “motivation,” “motivation process,” “types of motivation,” “internal motivation,” “extrinsic motivation,” “the importance of motivation in education,” and “motivation in online learning” were addressed in the present study.

VR Neuro Game: a Virtual Reality Game to Support Neuroanatomy Teaching and Learning

Using virtual environments (VEs) is a safer and cost-effective alternative to training people in different contexts. Immersive Virtual Reality (VR), combined with game aspects, have the potential to improve the user experience in the VE by increasing realism, engagement, and motivation. In education, there is a consensus about its contribution in the teaching and learning processes. However, in Brazil, only a few research groups have developed projects that involve the development of VR for education, due to technical difficulties and high costs. This manuscript presents the development and evaluation of an VR serious game to support the learning of neuroanatomy, an extended version of our previously published paper at the SVR 2020. In this version, we present the results of four different user studies, involving 57 participants, which suggest that the VR Neuro Game is easy to use, even by inexperienced subjects in VR, and is potentially useful for teaching and learning processes, both by individual students and groups of students and also in remote learning. In addition, the game was considered fun and did not cause discomfort. When comparing the knowledge test performance before and immediately after the experiments, we found significant difference only for the virtual condition. The same could be observed for retention results.

Could Motivation, Volition, and Engagement Be a Panacea in Online Distance Learning?

The current pandemic that we are going through once again showed us the value of motivation in education. During the COVID-19 global pandemic process, do you think strategies that increase motivation, student engagement, and the power of volition in online distance learning environments can be a panacea in overcoming the troubled process? This study aims to address the situations that are considered to be the basis for the disruptions in education during the COVID-19 global epidemic process from the perspective of motivation, student engagement, and the power of volition. For this purpose, the chapter plans to present the strategies that can be taken as a basis in overcoming the problems encountered in online distance learning in terms of learner, learning environment, and guide (instructor) with the theoretical background of the types of interaction in online learning that is suggested by Moore.

Relationship between Personality and Academic Motivation in Education Degrees Students

The present study aims to understand the relationship between the big five factors of personality and academic motivation. In addition, the following variables are taken into consideration; sex, age and type of educational studies. A quantitative methodology is used, in base to a not experimental, correlational study. The sample is composed of 514 students of the Faculty of Education of Leon’s University, between the three education degrees. To gather the information, participants were asked to complete the Learning and Motivation Strategies Questionnaire (CEAM) and the Personality Questionnaire Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). The results show the significant relationship between personality facets and motivation variables. It should be noted that female results were higher in the values of intrinsic motivation, motivation towards teamwork, neuroticism, and kindness, and the male results were higher in self-efficacy. Additionally, it was observed that intrinsic motivation decreases progressively from the first to the fourth year of the degree, the need for recognition decreases in the two last study years, and the openness to experiences is higher in the last year of the degree. Finally, Social Education students are those that show a higher intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, total motivation, openness to experiences, and neuroticism, while Primary Education students’ results were higher in the need for recognition.

EFL STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION IN WRITING, WRITING PROFICIENCY, AND GENDER

There have been a lot of research studies on the role of motivation in education and language learning. However, research on the role of motivation in the area of EFL (English as a foreign language) writing is a rare undertaking. This study aimed to examine the correlation between EFL students’ motivation in writing and their writing proficiency. It also compared female and male students in terms of their motivation in writing and their writing proficiency. This study involved 55 university students of English department (17 female and 38 male students) who were required to write essays and respond to a motivation in writing questionnaire. The results showed that there was a high correlation between the EFL students’ motivation in writing and their writing proficiency. It was also revealed that there were significant differences in the motivation in writing as well as writing proficiency of the female and male students. The findings of this study suggested that the EFL students who had a higher level of motivation in writing had better writing proficiency. The study also showed that female students outperformed male students in terms of both motivation in writing and writing proficiency.

Cinema as a Transmitter of Content: Perceptions of Future Spanish Teachers for Motivating Learning

In recent decades, the diverse changes produced have accelerated the relationships regulated by media. Cinema was able to bring together moving image and sound for the first time, and as a result of its audiovisual nature, it is a particularly suitable resource for motivation in education. In this light, the teacher’s perception for its application in its initial formal stage is highly relevant. The main objective of our research, therefore, has been to analyze the perceptions of cinema as a didactic resource for the transmission of content in preschool and primary education by students who are studying to become teachers themselves. The sample was composed of 4659 students from Spanish universities, both public and private. In addition to this, the PECID questionnaire was elaborated ad hoc and a comparative ex post facto design was adopted. The result showed that over 87% of students recognized the diverse educational potentialities of cinema, with motivation being an important factor. Furthermore, significant differences were found in perceptions according to different factors such as the type of teacher training degree, the Autonomous Community in which the student studied, as well as film consumption habits. On the basis of these results, future application of cinema needs to be applied using the different potentialities detected in our study.

Gamification and Advanced Technology to Enhance Motivation in Education

The aim of this Special Issue is to compile a set of research works that highlight the use of gamification and other advanced technologies as powerful tools for motivation during learning. We have been fortunate to obtain a representative sample of the current research activity in this field.