Vol. 14 No. 2 (2023):
Research Article

Enhancing Motivation Strategies in a Mandatory University Geography Course

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Pablo Fraile-Jurado
Universidad de Sevilla, Spain
Nuria Periáñez-Cuevas
Freelance researcher, Spain
Geophotopedia website after searching for the term "clouds."
DOI: https://doi.org/10.48088/ejg.p.fra.14.2.064.075
Categories

Published 2023-06-21

Keywords

  • student motivation,
  • engagement,
  • compulsory university course,
  • Physical Geography,
  • Iberian Peninsula,
  • teaching strategies,
  • active learning,
  • collaborative tasks,
  • personalized feedback,
  • higher education
    • ...More
    Less

How to Cite

Fraile-Jurado, Pablo, and Nuria Periáñez-Cuevas. 2023. “Enhancing Motivation Strategies in a Mandatory University Geography Course”. European Journal of Geography 14 (2):64-75. https://doi.org/10.48088/ejg.p.fra.14.2.064.075.

Copyright (c) 2023 Pablo Fraile-Jurado, Nuria Periáñez-Cuevas

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Received 2023-04-24
Accepted 2023-06-21
Published 2023-06-21

Abstract

This study investigates the effectiveness of innovative teaching strategies designed to enhance student motivation and engagement in a compulsory Physical Geography of the Iberian Peninsula course taught to first-year history students at the University of Seville. The paper outlines the challenges faced in teaching large and diverse groups of students, and the need to develop instructional approaches that accommodate various learning preferences and academic backgrounds. The research evaluates the impact of the implemented strategies on students' perception of the subject matter, with a specific focus on the shift in rankings from the beginning to the end of the academic year. The findings demonstrate a significant improvement in students' appreciation for the subject, as evidenced by a decrease in the percentage of students who ranked the course as their least preferred (from 40.7% to 4.9%) and an increase in the percentage who ranked it as their most preferred (from 0% to 11.1%). The study concludes that the adoption of motivational strategies, including active learning techniques, collaborative tasks, and personalized feedback, can lead to substantial improvements in student engagement and overall learning outcomes in a compulsory university course. The implications for teaching practice and future research are discussed.

 

Highlights:

  • Motivation challenges in large university courses
  • Innovative teaching strategies for Geography
  • Improvement in students' perceptions
  • Encouraging active student participation and collaboration
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