Seven Motivating Conceptions of Learning of Tertiary Students

Abstract

Of the various ways of defining learning, few use students’ own terms as the foundation for the definition of factors. Based on data derived from student’s descriptions of concepts of learning a questionnaire was developed. Responses from 252 tertiary students were used to evaluate and validate the conceptions of learning. Exploratory and confirmatory analysis showed that the seven concepts of Interest, Performance, Effort, Understanding, Ease, Natural Ability, and Preoccupation were acceptable as were levels of reliability. The consistency of the factors was tested over the duration of a semester with no significant differences between times 1 and 2 and no significant gender differences. The implications for further development and application are discussed as is the similarity of the seven factors with previous explanations of learning.