Developing Student Motivation and Interest Project

Introduction

The Developing Student Motivation and Interest Project is designed to improve student motivation and interest at the University of Sydney as well as university teachers' understanding of student motivation and interest issues. Colleagues from various disciplines are collaborating on this three year (2008 - 2010) action research project involving 21 researchers and participants from Art History, Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Education, Pharmacy, Physics, Sydney College of the Arts, Veterinary Science, and the Institute for Teaching and Learning. Participant entry into the project has been staggered, with each intake of academic staff participants forming a group that works together throughout the stages.

Key ideas from the student motivation and interest literature under consideration in the project are: choice, challenge, control, collaboration, competence, autonomy, relatedness, and competition or social comparison.

Getting Involved

New participants were welcome to join the project at any time until the end of 2009. If you would like further information, please contact the project's chief investigator Kathryn Bartimote-Aufflick.

Project Resources

Strategies for improving student self-efficacy

Project Findings

Bartimote-Aufflick, K. M., Walker, R., Smith, L., Sharma, M., Collier, M., & George, A. (2009). A multidisciplinary approach to improving university student motivation and interest. Paper for the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI) Conference 2009, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Bartimote-Aufflick, K., Walker, R., Smith, L., Taylor, C., George, A., Sharma, M., & Collier, M. (2008). Collaborating across the disciplines to develop university student motivation and interest. Paper for the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI) Motivation SIG Conference, Turku, Finland.