Abstract
This chapter reports on research from two case studies that investigated motivation to learn from a situated ‘person in context’ perspective. Specifically, it examines undergraduate students’ motivation within two formal and separate online learning contexts. The chapter begins with descriptions of each of the cases. This is followed by the presentation of findings. The first part explores the nature of motivation of learners within the cases drawing on the continuum of human motivation from self-determination theory (SDT) outlined in chapter two. This is followed with a detailed exploration of the salient social and contextual factors that influence students’ motivation to learn in these online environments. Throughout the second part of the chapter the underlying concepts of SDT, namely autonomy, competence and relatedness are used to organise the findings.
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Notes
- 1.
Also referred to as the relative autonomy index (RAI).
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Hartnett, M. (2016). The Case Studies. In: Motivation in Online Education. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0700-2_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0700-2_3
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