Level of intrinsic motivation of distance education students in e‐learning environments

According to researches, motivation that initiates and sustains behaviour is one of the most significant components of learning in any environment. Accordingly, level of intrinsic motivation triggers and sustains the interest of the open and distance education students when it comes to learning on their own in e‐learning environments. Despite a comprehensive literature regarding the motivation of those learning in traditional learning environments, the number of studies addressing the motivation of open and distance education students in e‐learning environments is not sufficient. In this context, this study aims at determining the level of intrinsic motivation of open and distance education students. Thus, data were collected from 1,639 distance education students in 22 programmes, through Intrinsic Motivation in e‐Learning Questionnaire developed and validated to that end. Analyses carried out indicate that the level of intrinsic motivation of open and distance education students is high in e‐learning environments, but there is not a statistically significant difference by gender, programme structure (graduate/undergraduate), instruction type (distance–blended), and academic disciplines. Lay Description What is already known about this topic: Motivation is one of the most important factors affecting human behaviour. Intrinsic motivation triggers and sustains the interest of the open and distance education students when it comes to learning on their own in e‐learning environments. Few studies address the motivation of open and distance education students in e‐learning environments. What this paper adds: Intrinsic Motivation in e‐Learning (IMeL) Questionnaire was developed and validated. Principal component analysis for IMeL revealed one component with total 3.791 eigenvalue, which explained 75.817% of the total variance. Data were collected from 1,639 distance education students in 22 programmes. Intrinsic motivation of open and distance education students was compared according to gender, programme structure (graduate/undergraduate), instruction type (distance–blended), and academic disciplines. Implications for practice and/or policy: Structural equation modelling and Distance Education Student Satisfaction Model can be used with IMeL to define the intrinsic motivations and satisfaction of the open and distance education students more clearly. Understanding the intrinsic motivation dynamics of distance education students is crucial for open and distance