Pedagogy undergraduate student´s learning strategies and motivation. Between waiting for rewards and scarce critical thinking

Abstract

Self-regulation of learning is a fundamental process in Higher Education. This research investigates the students’ learning strategies and motivation in the 3rd year of the bachelor’s degree in Pedagogy, in a longitudinal study of trend during five academic years (2017-2021) and through the application of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). The results show that elaboration and organization are the strategies that dominate the most, while the least internalized are effort regulation and peer learning. In relation to motivation, self-efficacy in the face of school tasks is positioned as fundamental in the deployment of strategies for learning. Trend changes are observed between promotions, with increasing extrinsic motivation and decreasing collaboration and critical thinking strategies. Variations that increase as a consequence of the pandemic and the virtualization of the training proposal, which emphasize the need to teach learning strategies in new contexts, and the creation of tasks that promote the intrinsic motivation of students.