ABSTRACT
Motivation is a multi-faceted construct encompassing orientation towards certain types of goals, the value and expectation of achieving those goals, and attributional beliefs. Our unique dataset tracks cohorts of mechanical engineering students through time and across multiple courses, allowing us to study context-dependent variables across time. We measured intrinsic goal orientation and extrinsic goal orientation in two cohorts of mechanical engineering students at the beginning and end of the Fall 2019 and Fall 2020 terms. Though our original study was designed to evaluate instructional interventions in a “difference-of-differences” design, our cohorts were significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the ongoing stress of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as widespread dissatisfaction with remote learning, we expected students to be less motivated overall in Fall 2020 compared to Fall 2019, and for motivation to erode more rapidly over the semester. Although intrinsic motivation was indeed lower in Fall 2020 compared with Fall 2019, the decrease in motivation over the course of the semester was the same. Furthermore, the availability of recorded lecture videos and class content may have mitigated against an expected drop in level of engagement for some students. Average student engagement, as measured by responses to in-class polling exercises remained constant between Fall 2019 and Fall 2020, and it appears that more students were able to maintain a 100% participation rate in the remote context, though there is significant variation in engagement within the class. We seek input from the engineering education research community on this work-in-progress study. We especially invite a discussion about how to make sense of survey results in dramatically different teaching contexts. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021