Students’ motivation in online learning: a trend analysis

This study aims to explore the trend in undergraduate tax students’ motivation to engage with learning activities in an online environment over a three-year period based on the ARCS model (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction) of motivation. The data was collected over a period of three years, 2020 – 2022, from undergraduate tax students. Principal component analysis was employed to extract the components that most likely measure each of the dimensions of the ARCS model and the mean values in each of the datasets are used to illustrate the trend in motivation and determine the dimension of motivation that appears to be the weakest. A thematic analysis was used to identify categories or factors of attention as a motivational domain from student responses. The results showed that attention was a problematic domain, with little improvement over the three years and the importance of stimulating curiosity and participation is highlighted.