Motivational Strategies and Academic Achievement in Traditional and Virtual University Students

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to compare the use of motivational strategies and their effect on academic achievement between traditional and virtual university students. Sample comprised of 394 (207 traditional and 187 virtual) students who were selected by quota sampling. Data was collected individually using a self-report questionnaire, Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). The results showed that the virtual university students are higher in external goal orientation and task value, as well as test anxiety, compare to the traditional students. The results of separated multiple regressions of final grades on motivational strategies components in virtual and traditional groups, indicated that motivational strategies can predict more variance of academic achievement in virtual group than traditional. In traditional group, task value and self-efficacy and in virtual group test anxiety had significant role in predicting academic achievement. Test anxiety had a negative and other variables had a positive correlation with academic achievement. The results support the idea that e-learning is more learner-centered than face- to-face teaching. Educational implications and suggestions for future research are discussed