Does competition with monetary prize improve student learning? An exploratory study on extrinsic motivation
Author
Summary, in English
Student motivation is a key to effective deep learning. This paper aims at exploring competition as key motivating element in teaching of SCM at master level. The paper reports on our experiences from introducing monetary prices for student group works as a measure to increase extrinsic student motivation. A main question is to investigate how monetary prizes and other rewards mechanisms affect the learning outcome and how this differ for individual vs team rewarding. The data was collected through observations and surveys of logistics students at Lund University and at University of Vienna. The competition itself was on a case study, carried out as a group assignment (Vienna) and individual assignment (Lund, Campus Helsingborg).
The key findings of our study is that competition with monetary prizes have highest motivation factor on already motivated students. The measure did not affect less motivated students in the same way. Even though, our study show that competition is a difficult phenomena to study, competition is a powerful tool to increase extrinsic motivation and enhance learning for ambitious students. The level of engagement in these assignments exceed that of the engagement of the same students in our course assignments. For future research, we need to investigate how less ambitious students could be motivated, as they seem to be unaffected by extrinsic motivation other than passing the courses.
The key findings of our study is that competition with monetary prizes have highest motivation factor on already motivated students. The measure did not affect less motivated students in the same way. Even though, our study show that competition is a difficult phenomena to study, competition is a powerful tool to increase extrinsic motivation and enhance learning for ambitious students. The level of engagement in these assignments exceed that of the engagement of the same students in our course assignments. For future research, we need to investigate how less ambitious students could be motivated, as they seem to be unaffected by extrinsic motivation other than passing the courses.
Department/s
Publishing year
2015
Language
English
Publication/Series
[Host publication title missing]
Document type
Conference paper
Publisher
Lund University
Topic
- Pedagogy
Conference name
Lunds universitets utvecklingskonferens, 2015
Conference date
2015-11-26 - 2015-11-26
Conference place
Lund, Sweden
Status
Published