When Choice Doesn't Mean Motivation

Contribution: This research-to-practice full paper describes a practical application of self-determination theory in microcontroller education and contributes to the field of motivation research on engineering and technology students with respect to microcontroller education. Background: Previous research indicates that developing and maintaining student interest and motivation is essential yet difficult in gateway courses that have students from various majors. According to self-determination theory, providing the students a choice in their assignments should build interest in the subject and lead to increases in motivation. Research Question: This study examined to what extent does providing students a choice in the laboratory assignment they undertake increase intrinsic motivation in the laboratory activities associated with an introductory gateway microcontroller course? Methodology: Students enrolled in an introductory microcontroller course are given autonomy with respect to the option to select which assignments they completed during their required laboratory activities. A single case pre/posttest methodology was utilized along with the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) to collect data about student interest and motivation. Students complete a pretest survey based on the IMI to obtain their baseline values for: interest and enjoyment levels, perception of value and usefulness, the students' perceived competence, the students' perception on effort and importance, the students' feeling of relatedness, and the students' perception of choice and autonomy. The students are then given a choice in the laboratory assignments that they complete as part of the normal laboratory portion of the course. The pretest values were compared to the posttest scores using statistical methods to determine changes in student motivation. Findings: The key finding of this study is that simply giving the students a choice does not necessarily increase their interest and motivation. There was no evidence of change for the students' interest in the education, their value of the education, or their perceived value and importance of the education when examining the entire class as a whole. It appears that the key factor is how the students actually perceive having choices. The link between the perception of choice by the students and their motivation within courses should be examined in greater detail in future studies.