Investigating motivation and self-regulation of racially underrepresented students: A mixed methods transformative study for equitable online learning (RPA Pilot / Seed Project)

Educational attainment has been an attributing factor to the long-standing racial disparities in the labor market, yet most U.S. higher education institutions have below-national-average graduation rates for students from historically marginalized racial/ethnic populations. Covid-19 further exacerbated the disparity when online education became a key modality of learning. Prior research has identified motivation and self-regulation as critical factors for student success and retention. Motivation signifies students’ feelings and beliefs that predispose their attention, task choices, effort, and persistence in learning, while self-regulation denotes students’ deliberate engagement in planning, execution, monitoring, and reflection in the learning process to achieve academic goals. There is evidence suggesting that different races/ethnicities may show different patterns of motivation and self-regulation, which, in turn, have a differential effect on academic performance. However, extant literature is predominated by studies employing a survey methodology, which provides limited insights into the nature of motivation and self-regulation among racially underrepresented online students. Seeking to engage the voice of racially underrepresented students, we will conduct a mixed methods transformative study that primes social justice. Quantitatively, we will collect online students’ objective learning behavioral data from the Learning Management System to corroborate with self-reported data on motivation and self-regulation. We will employ data mining techniques to (1) identify and compare motivational and self-regulation patterns between racially underrepresented students and their counterparts, and (2) examine the relationship between the identified patterns and academic performance. Using quantitative findings as anchors, we will engage racially underrepresented online students through focus groups, interviews, and other participatory means to understand their lived experiences and ideals as online students in their sociocultural contexts. Reconciling students’ voices and the quantitative data, we expect to draw impactful insights for strategies, interventions, and policies to sustain the motivation and self-regulation of racially underrepresented online students for their academic success.