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the importance of being motivated in college
motivation in college students
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As many of us near our senior year of high school we all begin to think seriously about pursuing our education further and what we want to come of it. This is also the time when we pick a major and sometimes incorporate graduate school into our future goals. These educational goals that we form at an early age reflect our desires most truly because we have yet to be discouraged by hardly anything. However, the downside is that in many cases rising college students don’t realize all that entails reaching the goals they have set for themselves. As a result, many students falter in their pursuit towards the original set goal. There are several common ways in which students deviate from the original plan. Some students begin college under a desired major and tend to switch out early on due to difficulty. My paper will devise a way to combat academic discouragement and most importantly avoid these situations by using several motivational theories. Some other students become so discouraged by the idea of college that they drop out all together. Through my research, steps are incorporated to help keep students from such a drastic alternative. Most commonly, students that plan to attend graduate school become either discouraged by the years added or eager to complete their education process early. Each of these three cases involves a diversion from the original plan and they can all be avoided using the same applied theories. I conducted research to determine reasons why people tend to drop out, change majors, and cut their education short. Throughout my paper I will include ways to make it easier to follow through with initial academic goals while battling discouraging factors. Even though the task may be more difficult for some than ot...
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This goal to achieve is evident in young children, manifesting itself early and continuing at some level throughout the school years and on into adulthood. Of particular interest and importance to me as a teacher are contributing factors to students’ motivation to achieve, and motivational strategies that can increase the likelihood of student achievement.
In our study we are considering three types of goals, depending on their origin; first one being the ‘assigned goals’: defined as “task specific challenges coupled with objective criteria for evaluation” ((Elliot & Harackiewicz, 1994). Another category of goals is the ‘self-set’ goals, which, as the name suggests, are set by the pursuer himself. These are assumed to be prejudiced by past experiences, self- determination, self-confidence, self- efficacy, and other personality traits. A relatively overlooked category is the ‘do your best’ goals. Since these are very similar to the self set goals in terms of the nature of the mediating and motivating factors, many researchers have focused on the former two categories in their studies.
It seems as though the majority of college students these days aren’t looking to further their education because it’s what they really want, they do it to please their parents, to be accepted by society, or because there’s nothing else for them to do (Bird, 372). These expectations have led to students being unhappy and stressed, and have pushed them into a school or a job that they don’t particularly care for.
Only three short weeks ago, I was presented with the opportunity to attend school at the University of Phoenix in order to complete my degree. While I was certain that continuing school was one of my goals, I was not sure if now was the best time. Despite my wavering feelings, I made the choice to proceed. Still, while making the decision to begin attending college, I never really considered my lifetime goals as they pertained to education. While I was set on the most obvious goal of finishing college and graduating with a degree, it still felt unsettling to begin college in general.
However, after reviewing our interview transcripts, and considering my peer’s issue, I believe that Goal Setting Theory would be the most applicable theory for solving my peer’s problem. In 1960s, Edwin A. Locke first proposed this theory, and then this theory has been developed. Locke and Latham referred (1990) that goal specificity is positively related to subsequent performance, and many following studies also indicate that there are a high correlation between these two variables.
Madden L. E. (1997). Motivating students to learn better through own goal-setting. Education 117, 411-415.
Rowell, L., & Hong, E. (2013), Academic motivation: Concepts, strategies, and counseling approaches. Professional School Counseling, 16 , 158-171.
College students are guaranteed to encounter a countless stress inducing situations as they begin and progress their journey through higher education. These stress causing situations include deciding a degree program, making and adhering to their own schedule, meeting regular deadlines, and balancing a life outside of school all at the same time, among plentiful other examples. Many colleges and universities offer hundreds of degree programs and often students feel pressured to select a degree program that could lead to a higher paying job instead of a degree program that they are legitimately interested in pursuing. College is also often the first experience students have with being completely independent and having little to no supervision.
“Motivation is a complex part of human psychology and behavior that influences how individuals choose to invest their time, how much energy they exert in any given task, how they think and feel about the task, and how long they persist at the task” (Urdan & Schoenfelder, 2006). The biggest question educators face in today’s classroom is what motivates a student to do something and why? Virtually all students are motivated in one way or another. Research of student motivation suggests a theory that emphasizes a social-cognitive perspective. The cognition of students regarding academic work are influenced by social factors, such as messages from the teacher about the difficulty of the task, the perceived abilities of classmates, and the information about the importance of learning the material (Urdan & Schoenfelder, 2006). In this paper the focus will primarily be on those elements within the classroom that influence student motivation and engagement.
According to Moorhead and Griffin (1998), “the critical variables in goal setting are goal difficulty, specificity, and proximity when performance is considered”. Goal specificity is “the clarity and precision of a goal”, and is central to the goal-setting theory. Brown and Latham (2001) found that “employees have high performance when specific high goals are set”. Furthermore, setting a specific high learning goal leads to higher performance than either a specific high performance goal or a vague goal “to do your best” (Seijts et al., 2004). This is because they specify the amount of effort required for success and boost self-efficacy by providing a clear standard against which to determine progress (source). Based on this premise, an organisational school goal...
Locke, Edwin A., and Gary P. Latham. "New Directions in Goal-Setting Theory." Current Directions in Psychological Science 15.5 (2006): 265-68. Print.
The driving force behind all the actions carried out by an individual can be otherwise defined as Motivation. The needs and desires of an individual both strongly impact and influence the direction of their behavior. Motivation of an individual is based on one’s emotions and achievement-related goals. There are different forms of motivation including extrinsic, intrinsic, physiological, and achievement motivation, all falling under positive forms of motivation. Negative forms of motivation also exist simultaneously.
To measure achievement motivation we have developed a questionnaire using the achievement motivation inventory with relevant changes. The questions have been divided in four different categories.
Pintrich, P. R. (2004). A conceptual framework for assessing motivation and self-regulated learning in college students. Educational Psychology Review, 16(4), 385-407.
Linnenbrink, E. A. & Pintrich, P. R. (2002). Motivation as an enabler for success. School Psychology Review, 31 (3), 313-327