Student motivation to learn via computer conferencing

This study investigates why some university students appear motivated to le arn via computer conferencing (CC) whereas others do not, exploring the cor relations of three key aspects of student motivation-reasons for engaging i n academic learning (goal orientation), beliefs that they can acquire the a bility to use CC (self-efficacy), and beliefs that learning to use CC will help them learn the course material (outcome expectations)-with satisfactio n and with the frequency of CC contributions. Participants (n = 79) came fr om 4 graduate-level face-to-face courses and 1 undergraduate DE course. The results suggest that students who believe that CC will help them learn the course material are more likely to express satisfaction and to be active o nline, that students who believe that they are capable of learning how to u se CC are more likely to be active online, and that students who are concer ned about their relative performance compared to others tend to send fewer messages to conferences where online activity is not graded. Practical impl ications for instructors and suggestions for future research are described.