Student Motivation and Self-Regulated Learning in the College Classroom

Abstract

College student motivation is a persistent and persuasive problem for faculty and staff at all levels of postsecondary education. Faculty at community colleges, comprehensive universities, small liberal arts colleges, and private and public research universities all bemoan the lack of student motivation. The questions that college faculty and staff raise include: why don't the students seem to care about their work, why don't they seem more interested in the disciplinary content of the courses, why do they only care about their grades but not learning, why don't they try very hard, why don't they study very much, why do they procrastinate and try to study for an exam at the last minute, or try to write a paper the day before it is due, why can't they be more organized and plan their work better, and why don't they learn or perform very well. All of these issues can be partially explained by a motivation and self-regulation perspective on student learning in the college classroom. Of course, there are other models of college student cognition and learning that are relevant, but in this chapter we will focus on motivational and self-regulatory constructs. The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of current research on college student motivation and self-regulated learning that should provide some insights into these general problems.