Students\u27 Academic Motivations in Allied Health Classes

This session will describe a two-semester research project investigating students\u27 intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for taking large, introductory anatomy and physiology classes. These classes enroll students from many different majors, each of which requires the course for different reasons. This provides an excellent opportunity to study differential student motivation and the impact of those differences on student academic behaviors and performance. Session objectives include discussing the results of this project and its implications for faculty in understanding student motivations as contributing factors to student success. The audience will be invited to build upon the findings reported and brainstorm additional ways to increase student motivation and further avenues for research in this area. Attendees can expect to learn about the Student Learning Theory of Motivation, ways to operationalize the Academic Motivation Scale, and the relationship between students\u27 motivations and academic behaviors and performance