MOTIVATION AND PERSONALITY MODEL AS A

The Sixth International Conference on e-Learning (eLearning-2015), 24-25September 2015, Belgrade, SerbiaMOTIVATION AND PERSONALITY MODEL AS A REPRESENTATIVE FACTOR OF STUDENTS’STUDYING HABITSVITOMIR RADOSAVLJEVIĆICT College of Vocational Studies in Belgrade, Serbia, vitomir.radosavljevic@ict.edu.rsGORDANA JELIĆICT College of Vocational Studies in Belgrade, Serbia, gordana.jelic@ict.edu.rsSLAVICA ŠTRBACICT College of Vocational Studies in Belgrade, Serbia, slavica.strbac@ict.edu.rsAbstract: In this paper we present the results of one part of a research which was to determine studying habits ofstudents in the studying process. The findings obtained in research were to be used for enhancing the effects ofstudying, especially the ones realized through educational platforms. The research tested correlation betweenpersonality traits and motivation in a learning process. In this research, ’Big Five’ was used as a personality model.The results showed that there is correlation between personality traits and motivation, but not all personality traitsaffect motivation in the same way and with the same strength. The research was conducted at the ICT College ofVocational Studies in Belgrade on 92 students, and gave some conclusions that were useful in further research ofstudents’ studying habits.Keywords: Big Five, personality traits, adaptive learning, motivation1. INTRODUCTIONEducational process and personal development arenowadays considered to be one of the basic elements ofour society and the foundation for society improvementand development. Having this in mind, study approachesare being developed which will improve the quality ofstudying and which will define standards for moreefficient and effective learning process. In order toexplore better parameters which influence the learningprocess there was a survey conducted at the ICT Collegeof Vocational Studies in Belgrade. The aim of theresearch was to ascertain the studying habits of studentsThe research presented in this paper is only theintroductory part of a bigger research project where wewant to ascertain the studying habits of students in thestudying process and to use them for enhancing theeffects of studying, especially the ones realized througheducational platforms. The problem was presented andanalyzed in the next chapter and it was the starting pointof the research. In the third chapter the research wasdescribed in its last phase at the end of 2014. In the fourthChapter the research results and their analyses are given,while the research conclusion was shown in the lastchapter.2. DESCRIBING LEARNERThe way how new technologies are going to be appliedand developed in the studying process depends onfindings and scientific facts from the wide range ofscience fields such as psychology, pedagogy, HumanComputer Interaction, medicine. The aim is to usetechnology in favor of a user and by use of this newtechnological elements to enhance the studying processonto a new level. Studying should be effective, efficient,adapted to users needs, and the quality of knowledgeobtained good. In addition, a student has to be motivatedfor studying, and the system should be designed torecognize the best possible way qualities of an individual,which are important for the studying process [2] as well togive him the subjective feeling of satisfaction while usingthe system. [4].Motivation is the factor which stimulates the activities ofan individual: influences certain behavior, and keeps itgoing and directing towards a certain goal. Motivationplays a very important role in education and influencesstudents in many different ways. It can influence thegrowth of invested work and energy of a student whilestudying materials, it can provoke some creative thinkingin the fields of study, and at the same time it can initiatecertain activities concerning the materials and that wayenhance the cognitive studying processes and the wholestudy performances [5].We can observe the motivation within two aspects. Wecan speak about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.The intrinsic motivation is the one that comes from theperson itself and it causes the action. It results from theurge of a person to feel the personal satisfaction andfulfillment due to performed activity (for exampleacquired materials or performed tasks). The intrinsicmotivation is very often described as something anindividual does without direct inducement. In educationstudents with high intrinsic motivation achieve top resultsin learning. Good intrinsic motivation leads to highquality knowledge [6]. Students go deeper into studymaterials and have a more creative approach. There is astrong wish to overcome problems by studying andconnecting acquirement with other accomplishments.

Factors which have a positive impact on increasing theintrinsic motivation are challenges in studying, curiosity,need to understand environment, developed imagination,competitive and team spirit, need to get approval andacknowledgement. People with strong intrinsic motivationneed intellectual stimulation and are enthusiastic aboutstudying [3]. The feeling of inner satisfaction motivatesthem to study and work.Extrinsic motivation is a kind of motivation which causesactivity due to extrinsic influences on a person. Takenactions aim to achieve results which will be regarded asan award (during the study process it is an adequategrade) or help to escape punishment [9]. This type ofstudents motivation makes them study to get an adequatereward (good grade or to pass an exam) and not becausethey want to obtain new accomplishments. People, whobelong to this group of extrinsic motivated students,study to achieve certain goals and given goals are theirmain resource of motivation. This way obtainedknowledge is not combined with other accomplishments,and as soon as the motive was established (an exampassed or good grade obtained) there is no furthermotivation to remember the study materials and/or extendthem. People without motivation do not respond toextrinsic medium influences [7].In the process of e-learning intrinsic motivation plays animportant role. Environment in which a student followse-courses differs fundamentally from face-to-faceenvironment. In face-to-face environment a teacher is in adirect contact with students and influences the speed andway he/she manages the class. Depending on the currentstudents motivation the teacher can adapt a lecturedynamic or a lesson or can choose some other ways tomotivate students in order to obtain better results in theirwork. The motivation given by the teacher is a factor ofan extrinsic motivation. It has its positive effects whenstudents concentration and working energy diminishes.In e-learning the student has to improve his ownmotivation when his motivation for work and learninglowers. Interface used in e-learning should increase theuser s motivation [30].To get the information about the motivation of the elearning user it is necessary to analyze the user s behaviorduring the process of adopting study materials which areinitially not understandable and are described as difficultto understand. Apart from that, the chosen criteria by theuser saying which study materials are going to be studiedcan show the state of intrinsic motivation.The research has been pointed towards establishingconnection between studying motivation and personalitymodel. The personality model which has been dominantin the sphere of personality psychology in the few lastyears and which is used to describe personality is socalled Five Factor Model – FFM or the model ‘Big Five’,which describes individual traits by an acronym OCEAN.According to that model personality can be described byfive traits: Openness –O, Conscientiousness – C,Extraversion - E, Agreeableness – A and Neuroticism –N. The authors of this model assume that the mostimportant dimensions of personality are universal andunchangeable and that they are shown consequently indifferent samples, analyses procedures, cultures. Thisfive main traits are called domains and present a group ofdifferent cognitive, affective and behavioral dimensionswhich can be grouped differently. Facets represent thehierarchically lower traits which define the domain. Theadvantages of this model are its empirical foundation andconceptual apprehensiveness [11].The number of researches using the model Big Five toestablish connection between the personality type andstyle of learning is growing every day. The research of LiFang Zahn [15] gave two hypotheses which have given usthe answer based on certain personality traits: whatapproach have students got towards studying: frivolous orthorough and efficient. According the first hypothesis,students with a higher neuroticism factor (N) performtasks with more difficulty when they just have to repeatthe study materials and when they do not want to godeeper into the core of the learned materials. The secondhypothesis stands for attitude that people more apt toopenness [O], extraversion (E) and conscientiousness (C)have thorough approach towards materials that have to belearnt and go deeper into the matter. Data analysis hasconfirmed that Big Five can, to certain extent, anticipatewhich study approach a person will have.Conscientiousness (C) and openness[O] are twopersonality traits which have given the best predictionsabout the study approach, whereas agreeableness (A)anticipates which study approach is not achievementoriented, and extraversion (E) does not give any distinctcorrelation[15].In one older research [12] they were looking forconnection between personality traits following the FiveBig criteria and learning style. In this research they havepresented the four studying styles: meaning directed,reproduction directed, application directed and undirectedstyle. According to Vermunt [18], undirected learningstyle characterizes student s inability to differ importanttheses from less important ones. Student reads materialseven a couple of times and at the same time he feels theload from the quantity of materials he has to study andfeels insecure in obtaining his academic achievements.Studying which is directed by reproduction is based onmemorizing data and analyzing them to achieveappropriate academic demands, allowing the instructor orteacher to lead them through learning materials and theyare mostly motivated by extrinsic factors such as passingan exam, getting a certificate or grade. Applicationdirected studying is a characteristic of those studentswhose motivation factors are coming from inside as wellfrom outside, but they also possess intrinsic motivationfor studying. Intrinsic motivation comes out of cognitionthat obtained knowledge can bepractically used.Application directed studying is typical for those who aresystematic in their studying process and have a plan andstrategy how to obtain certain knowledge and they showpersonal interest for studying [16]. We can draw a parallelbetween the Big Five and Vermunt s categorization oflearning styles. It is deduced that there is a correlationamong extrinsic and directed studying, studying by