The Role of Intrinsic Goal Orientation, Self-Efficacy, and E-Learning Practice in Engineering Education

Abstract

Research on academic self-regulation suggests that students who are successful in academic settings tend to possess and use effective self-regulative learning characteristics such as intrinsic goal orientation and self-efficacy. Social-cognitive theories also emphasize that learning occurs through interactions between learners and the learning environment. For example, it is possible that students’ learning is partially influenced by the interaction between their intrinsic motivation and selfefficacy levels and their performance in a self-paced e-learning environment. This study was conducted to explore the role that students’ intrinsic goal orientation, self-efficacy, and e-learning practice have on learning in an introductory engineering class. The results showed that students significantly improved learning by the end of the course and that students’ intrinsic goal orientation and e-learning practice made significant contributions to their learning. Implications of the results, limitations of the study, and recommendations for future research are discussed at the end.