1. Australasian Higher Education Evaluation Forum (AHEEF) 2008 "Evidence based Decision Making: Scholarship and Practice" 2-3 October, 2008 Australasian Higher Education Evaluation Forum (AHEEF) 2008 "Evidence based Decision Making: Scholarship and Practice" 2-3 October, 2008 Students’ perceived motivation to learn: consistency across units Beatrice Tucker and Julie-Ann Pegden

2. eVALUate – unit survey Quantitative items Ask students their level of agreement What helps their achievement of the learning outcomes (items 1-7) Their level of motivation & engagement (items 8-10) Overall satisfaction (item 11) Qualitative items 1.What are the most helpful aspects of the unit? 2.How might the unit be improved?

3. Motivation 8. I am motivated to achieve the learning outcomes in this unit. Being motivated means having the desire or drive to learn, to complete tasks and to willingly strive for goals.

4. Previous Research Findings Higher % agreement motivation *Females *Part-time students *International students *Older students (26 yrs+) *PG students *External students *Higher grades (SWA) Health and Humanities vs Business and especially * Science and Engineering.

5. Research questions 1. Are students consistent in their reported level of motivation across units? 2. If so – what are their characteristics? 3. What factors motivate them? – what do they say?

6. Method Identified all student responses: –enrolled in 3 or more units –same reported agreement (motivation) SA = strongly agree A = agree D or SD = disagree or strongly disagree –exclusions – UJ or blank Qualitative comments analysed using SPSS Text Analysis for Surveys

7. Results eVALUate event – Semester 1, 2006 –1,911 units –response rate 28.9% by 32.7% students –25,090 surveys submitted by 8,379 students

8. Results N o students enrolled in 3+ units = 4983 Inconsistent agreement (motivation) = 76.7% (n = 3822) Consistent level of agreement (motivation) SA = 4.2% (n = 207) A = 16.3% (n = 812) D or SD = 1.0% (n = 52)

9. Demographics Strongly agree Females 61% Australian students 69% Disagree/strongly disagree Males 62% Australian students 73%

10. Faculty

11. Year of program

12. Age (years)

13. Grade average (percentage)

14. What do students say – SA

15. What do students say – D / SD

16. D/SD students tracked Semester / year Sem 2 2006 Sem 1 2007 Sem 2 2007 No. of students who were no longer enrolled 10 22 (14 + 8 graduated) 28 (16 +12 graduated) 24 still enrolled

17. Conclusion Students who consistently SA tend to be –female –studying in Health –1 st year –aged less than 25 years –achieve a grade average of 60 – 80% Comment on – teachers and unit (learning experiences, assessments)

18. Conclusion Students who consistently D/SD –males –studying in Science and Engineering –1 st, 2 nd, and 3 rd year –aged less than 25 years –achieve a grade average of 80% or less Comment on – need more information and help, organisation, assessments Many of these students leave course.