This study assesses student motivation in online learning environments, with the purpose of exploring how affiliation influences learners’ power and achievement in university learning. The study is guided by McClelland’s Theory of Needs (1965) and Fowler’s (2018) online motivation framework, which frame motivation through affiliation, power, and achievement. The research problem concerns the difficulty of sustaining motivation online, where students may experience isolation, reduced focus, and heavy demands for self-discipline despite the normalisation of virtual education. A quantitative survey design was employed using a convenient sample of 199 students. Data were collected through a five-point Likert-scale questionnaire adapted from Fowler’s motivation to learn online instrument and analysed using descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, t-tests, and Pearson correlation in SPSS. The findings showed no significant differences in online motivation across gender, clusters, education background, and academic years, suggesting that demographic factors were not the main source of motivational variation. The findings also revealed that learners perceived affiliation, power, and achievement positively, while affiliation had strong positive relationships with both power and achievement. Overall, online motivation appears to depend strongly on meaningful connection and instructor support. The study implies that educators should design affiliation-rich online learning environments, while future research should use mixed-method approaches to examine learner motivation.
Amir Lukman Abd Rahman, Wan Amir Nizam, Shirley Clare Jeri et al.· International journal of res...· 0 citations
Online learning has emerged as a significant aspect of higher education, treating students’ online presence as a key factor influencing engagement and learning outcomes. Navigated by the Community of Inquiry framework, the present research explores undergraduate learners’ perceptions of teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence in online classes, together with the connections between these dimensions. Data were collected from 79 undergraduate students using a quantitative survey research design. The survey was a 31-item questionnaire adapted from Garrison and Arbaugh (2007). The instrument included three sections evaluating three dimensions: teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence. Reliability analysis presented excellent internal consistency for all dimensions, with an overall Cronbach’s alpha of .969. Descriptive analyses also disclosed that students perceived teaching presence most positively, especially with regards to the lecturer’s communication and guidance. Meanwhile, cognitive presence was also highly rated, indicating students’ active engagement in exploration, integration, and application of knowledge. Conversely, social presence received relatively lower ratings, specifically related to group cohesion and comfort in stating disagreement. Apart from that, correlation analyses displayed significant positive relationships among teaching, social, and cognitive presence. The strongest association was found between social and cognitive presence, implying that meaningful social interaction contributes significantly to knowledge construction in online learning environments. All in all, the findings emphasise the significance of nurturing balanced instructional, social, and cognitive support to improve students’ online learning experiences.
Norasyikin Abdul Malik, N. Anuar, M. S. Y. Shak et al.· International journal of res...· 0 citations
Findings carry pertinent pedagogical implications, suggesting that higher education practitioners should systematically integrate AI scaffolding into writing instruction to enhance self-regulated learning and writing behaviors.
Amirah Athirah Amir Yazid, N. Hasni, M. S. Y. Shak et al.· International journal of res...· 0 citations