Relations between Students’ Motivation, and Perceptions of the Learning Environment

In this research, we have examined the characteristics of university students’ motivation and its connection with perceptions of the learning environment. Higher education teachers often find it challenging to decide how to organize their lectures and what instructional strategy they should use to b...

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Main Authors: Marko Radovan, Danijela Makovec
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Ljubljana 2015-06-01
Series:Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ojs.cepsj.si/index.php/cepsj/article/view/145
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author Marko Radovan
Danijela Makovec
author_facet Marko Radovan
Danijela Makovec
author_sort Marko Radovan
collection DOAJ
description In this research, we have examined the characteristics of university students’ motivation and its connection with perceptions of the learning environment. Higher education teachers often find it challenging to decide how to organize their lectures and what instructional strategy they should use to be most effective. Therefore, we endeavoured to determine which  characteristics of the learning environment best predict the motivational orientation of students and their satisfaction with the course. The survey included 120 postgraduate students of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Ljubljana. In order to measure their motivation, we employed several scales of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich et al., 1991). For the purpose of this research, we created a new questionnaire for their evaluation of the learning environment. The results revealed a high correlation between the intrinsic goal orientation, self-efficacy, and control beliefs. The most important factors of the learning environment that are connected with the formation of intrinsic goal-orientation and the enjoyment of education are the perception of the usefulness of the studied topics, a feeling of autonomy, and teacher support. To an extent, these findings are supported by the findings of those authors who recommend using those methods of teaching that are in compliance with the student-centred understanding of teaching and learning.
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spelling doaj-art-033c6b58ee524bd4a5b235dca50bbb152025-08-20T03:48:41ZengUniversity of LjubljanaCenter for Educational Policy Studies Journal1855-97192232-26472015-06-0152Relations between Students’ Motivation, and Perceptions of the Learning EnvironmentMarko RadovanDanijela MakovecIn this research, we have examined the characteristics of university students’ motivation and its connection with perceptions of the learning environment. Higher education teachers often find it challenging to decide how to organize their lectures and what instructional strategy they should use to be most effective. Therefore, we endeavoured to determine which  characteristics of the learning environment best predict the motivational orientation of students and their satisfaction with the course. The survey included 120 postgraduate students of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Ljubljana. In order to measure their motivation, we employed several scales of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich et al., 1991). For the purpose of this research, we created a new questionnaire for their evaluation of the learning environment. The results revealed a high correlation between the intrinsic goal orientation, self-efficacy, and control beliefs. The most important factors of the learning environment that are connected with the formation of intrinsic goal-orientation and the enjoyment of education are the perception of the usefulness of the studied topics, a feeling of autonomy, and teacher support. To an extent, these findings are supported by the findings of those authors who recommend using those methods of teaching that are in compliance with the student-centred understanding of teaching and learning.https://ojs.cepsj.si/index.php/cepsj/article/view/145Learning environmentAchievement Goal orientationCourse satisfactionHigher education didacticsUniversity students
spellingShingle Marko Radovan
Danijela Makovec
Relations between Students’ Motivation, and Perceptions of the Learning Environment
Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal
Learning environment
Achievement Goal orientation
Course satisfaction
Higher education didactics
University students
title Relations between Students’ Motivation, and Perceptions of the Learning Environment
title_full Relations between Students’ Motivation, and Perceptions of the Learning Environment
title_fullStr Relations between Students’ Motivation, and Perceptions of the Learning Environment
title_full_unstemmed Relations between Students’ Motivation, and Perceptions of the Learning Environment
title_short Relations between Students’ Motivation, and Perceptions of the Learning Environment
title_sort relations between students motivation and perceptions of the learning environment
topic Learning environment
Achievement Goal orientation
Course satisfaction
Higher education didactics
University students
url https://ojs.cepsj.si/index.php/cepsj/article/view/145
work_keys_str_mv AT markoradovan relationsbetweenstudentsmotivationandperceptionsofthelearningenvironment
AT danijelamakovec relationsbetweenstudentsmotivationandperceptionsofthelearningenvironment