Going Beyond Face-to-Face Classrooms: Examining Student Motivation to Participate in Online Discussions through a Self-Determination Theory Perspective

Abstract

Current trends in education favor the use of collaborative learning environments. Social technologies such as an asynchronous online discussion board (AOD) enable students to communicate without time or place constraints. Unlike many past studies that merely focused in student posting, this study examines what motivates graduate students to log in, read and post in an online discussion board. The Self-Determination Theory (SDT) was used as a theoretical framework to investigate the various motivators. Results suggest that students’ motivation to log in, read and make a posting shifts from one that is more externally regulated to one that is more integrated regulated. In addition, the availability of time and accessibility to the internet influenced students’ motivation to log in to the AOD. Factors such as AOD design influence their motivation to read the discussion postings. Insofar as making a posting is concerned, results suggest that students’ decision to make a posting in an AOD was largely found to be identified or integration regulated.