ACADEMIC MOTIVATION OF STUDENTS FOR LEARNING

<doi>10.24250/jpe/1/2021/CVI

Abstract

In today's society an essential factor is given by the freedom to choose, so we can identify two general trends that have an impact on our students: on the one hand the freedom offered by the use of technology and the impact of the Internet in students' lives. We especially argue the multiple diversity of information sources to which students have access, the possibility to organize their entire training, information, learning activity standing in front of the computer or tablet. The second direction given by the globalism we all live in, so that everyone can change their career at any time or we can have access to resources and products from any corner of the world. From an educational perspective we are concerned with understanding the mechanisms underlying students' motivation when they are put in the situation of choice. There is a series of researches, which highlight the general aspects that motivate and those that demotivate students. At the same time, there is a list from which we start to arrive at the measures we put in place to increase motivation. Robinson and Fielding (2010) summarizing the research in the literature formulates: children are motivated by interest in the topic, success (they find satisfaction in the results of their work), challenge (and the feeling that they have the freedom to make mistakes), activities that they propose (to feel that they are useful, that they have a clear purpose to pursue and that they have the ability to complete them on time). On the other hand, children are demotivated and bored when the activity is routine (… is monotonous, does not present a challenge and has nothing new in it) and is perceived as a waste of time. (Pânișoară I.O., 2017, p. 118)The same author paraphrasing what Aguilar and Lafaix (2009) said that a school subject is like a jewelry box. If the box is beautiful, the jewelry looks more valuable. Do not rely on the intrinsic value of the subject you teach. You have the "jewel", but you also need the box. (Pânișoară I.O., 2017, p. 118) In this sense, we aim to analyze the particularities of students' motivation from the perspective of their involvement in a responsible and valuable learning process. Thus, the premises are the learning process as an individual activity in which the student is involved depending on the specific motivation of each one. Even if the students, colleagues of the same year, within the same training program, aim at obtaining the same qualification and acquiring its specific competencies, each has its own motivation and individual way of relating to the learning process.