Wang, L. (2022). Student Intrinsic Motivation for Online Creative Idea Generation: Mediating Effects of Student Online Learning Engagement and Moderating Effects of Teacher Emotional Support. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 954216–954216. 

This study explored three hypotheses.  First, the authors found that intrinsic motivation was positively associated with creativity. Second, they found that engagement in the online learning environment was tied to intrinsic motivation; higher intrinsic motivation resulted in more engagement, and higher engagement also led to deeper learning and a higher level of creativity and idea generation. Therefore, they surmised that engagement has a mediating effect on intrinsic motivation and creativity in online learning. Finally, the authors found that instructor emotional support had a moderating effect on student engagement; as the level of instructor emotional support increased, the student’s intrinsic motivation had a larger positive effect on student engagement in online learning. In short, emotional support by the instructor leads to higher intrinsic motivation, which leads to deeper learning and more engagements which stimulates the generation of creative ideas.

In general, the structure of the report was straightforward and easy to follow.  They began with an overview of why online learning is more prevalent now than in the past. They gave definitions, and stated the nature of the associations between the variables being studied. The authors included a brief literature review for each hypothesis that followed the tenets of a good lit review, beginning with broad information and ending with the specific hypothesis. They discussed the demographics of their participants (they had over 400), and how each of four variables–intrinsic motivation, engagement, teacher emotional support, creativity–were measured using different surveys. They explained how they eliminated some survey responses, how they tested for bias among the participants, and how they collected and analyzed data related to moderation and mediation. (This is still just so many numbers to me. Big learning curve, coming up!) I liked this article because of its logical presentation and straightforward analysis. It wasn’t hard to figure out what the authors were intending, nor what their findings were. If I had written this article, I probably would have expanded the literature reviews; there were some undefined terms and unexplained logic. However, in terms of writing a succinct, clear description of research and conclusions, I think this is a good model.

In terms of my research interests, it makes sense that intrinsically motivated learners would persist and generally exhibit more creative behaviors. While this article approached the topic of creativity as the result of intrinsic motivation, engagement, and instructor emotional support, I would be interested in checking out the converse: do the creative requirements of an online activity increase motivation (intrinsic, extrinsic or both), as well as engagement. In other words, what is the impact of an assignment that requires creativity for its completion. For me personally, it would absolutely increase all of the above. But what about for others? Would the effects be moderated by whether or not the individuals considered themselves to be creative? And how would you go about asking questions about a person’s innate creativity? In fact, how could an online assignment be structured to tap into that innate creativity?  Because I honestly believe that creativity is innate, and tied to evolutionary processes. (This is off-topic a bit, but I feel it needs to be said here. Just because an organism somehow ended up with an advantageous adaptation doesn’t mean the organism can figure out how to use it–only those organisms with some creativity ability will figure out what that adaptation means and survive to use it. Somewhere in our own ancient past, a distant ancestor of ours had to learn that their opposable thumbs were really good for using tools and wielding weapons. So its not just survival of the fittest, but survival of the most creative fittest.)

The biggest take away from this article is that if online learners are going to be motivated, engaged and creative, the instructor needs to establish a social presence that is visible, consistent,  and responsive to student needs.