Effects of the ARCS-V-based motivational strategies on online learners' academic performance, motivation, volition, and course interest

Abstract

This exploratory experimental study investigates the impact of motivational strategies based on the Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction, and Volition (ARCS-V) model on online learners' academic performance, motivation, volition, and course interest. The research was conducted over an 11-week semester with 122 undergraduate online learners within two groups. One group received a traditional e-course, while the other group was offered the course with extra motivational strategies derived from the ARCS-V model. The results revealed that the group who used motivational strategies showed significantly higher gains in motivation, academic performance, and course interest scores. However, there were no significant differences between the groups regarding the volition. Furthermore, the motivation and interest variables were measured with Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction subscales of the ARCS-V model. In terms of interest variable, there was only a statistically significant difference on the Attention subscale. Regarding motivation variable, the results also showed a statistically significant difference on the attention, confidence, and satisfaction subsections of the ARCS-V model. The findings of the present study offer insights into ARCSV model-based research by examining the effects of the model as a valid and reliable framework for online learning environments. The implications and directions for future research are then discussed.