Work in progress - intrinsic motivation as a predictor of success in computer science

Student success and retention are major concerns for most colleges. Efforts designed to help struggling students include expanding faculty office hours, sponsoring review sessions, hiring student lab instructors, and providing tutoring labs where students may go for help. These mechanisms are described as reactive and are intended to help a student already in academic trouble. The on-going goal of this study is to identify proactive mechanisms, allowing a student´s support staff to identify risk factors and intervene with support strategies before the student begins to fail. Students´ levels of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are being studied to determine if these measures can be a more accurate predictor of student success and persistence. Secondly, this study is also attempting to determine if extrinsically motivated students can become more intrinsically motivated through innovative classroom activities and delivery methods. This WIP presents the status of this research study