About this Research Topic
Recent decades have seen a significant increase in research investigating learning motivation and engagement within higher education, establishing these topics as central themes in academic inquiry. Learning motivation refers to individuals’ willingness, inclination, and enthusiasm to invest time, energy, and effort in academic endeavors, facilitating learning success and achievement. Student engagement refers to “the time and effort students devote to activities that are empirically linked to desired outcomes of college”. Researchers have explored characteristics and determinants of learning motivation and engagement across various learning environments, involving diverse student cohorts differentiated by gender, academic disciplines, educational levels, and cultural backgrounds. Additionally, research has illuminated the influences of motivation and engagement on learning achievement, as evidenced by improved academic performance, gains in general abilities, and intellectual development.
Building upon the insights gained from the above-mentioned conceptual and empirical literature, the current Research Topic seeks to explore the features of and associations among students’ learning motivation, engagement, and development within the post-pandemic higher education contexts. This collection intends to bring together researchers, scholars, and higher education policy-makers to share insights, methodologies, and practices that highlight the importance of supporting student motivation, engagement, and development as cornerstones for the recovery of higher education. The dialogue facilitated by this collection aspires to contribute to the sustainable development of higher education in the post-COVID era. We invite original empirical research and theoretical articles on a range of topics, which include, but are not limited to, the following areas:
• Measurement of students’ learning motivation, engagement, and development
• Features and influential factors of students’ learning motivation, engagement, and development
• Relationship between students’ learning motivation, engagement, and development
• Teaching pedagogies, assessment innovations, and curriculum designs that enhance learning motivation, engagement, and development
• Learning motivation, engagement, and development among vulnerable student groups, including international students, linguistic and ethnic minorities, and students with disabilities
• Learning motivation, engagement, and development in various learning environments, such as traditional classrooms, online courses, and informal learning spaces
• Uses of technologies, digital tools, and artificial intelligence in promoting learning motivation, engagement, and development
• Other perspectives, approaches, and practices for understanding students’ emotions, psychology, and behaviors, which can be used to provide interventions that support learning and development
Keywords: motivation, engagement, learning and development, higher education, post-COVID 19
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.