Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation in Course Project Work

In the society with highly developed and successful economy, students tend to lack motivation in mastering knowledge and skills when they are guaranteed a good life in the future. Polytechnics in Singapore were set up with the mission to train professionals to support the technological and economic development of Singapore. Intrinsic motivation (IM) is tapped in the project work of a 3rd year module ET0706 Object Oriented Programming (OOP, in Java) in DCPE (Diploma of Computer Engineering) at the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Singapore Polytechnic. Performance approach goals were set for the students who are high in achievement orientation; while mastery approach goals were set for the students low in achievement orientation. In this paper, it is presented how RAMP (Relatedness, Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose) of IM elements are implemented into the module project work to motivate students high in achievement orientation to acquire advanced knowledge and apply it in challenging real-life projects, such as those involved in serving the community; in the meantime, motivate students low in achievement orientation to focus on foundation knowledge through applying it in solving real-life problem with adequate challenge. It is concluded that it is effective to apply IM to motivate students and get them to be work ready, future ready and world ready.