Determining the effect of motivation on computer mediated communication during COVID-19

A survey was conducted among college graduate female students aged 18-21 years during the lockdown period due to COVID19 using online portals. As the Lockdown boosted the enrolment of online courses, e-learning, video conferencing and many more avatars of Computer Mediated Communication by the educational institutions and governments, the study was aimed to explore the probable sources that could enhance better involvement of the students in the CMC platforms. The survey hypothesised that motivation predicts the interest towards computer mediated communication (CMC) and that there is a relation between motivation and CMC. Students who are motivated towards excellence will find CMC platforms challenging and reinforcing towards their educational goals. The survey used an online activity based on hidden puzzle as an experiment to gain insight, introspect the instructions, gain experience at basic level and the need to execute the instructions with commitment. Besides the puzzle, the survey incorporated the use of tools, ‘Motivation to Achieve’ questionnaire by Waugh (2002) and ‘CMC Competence Questionnaire’ by Spitzberg (2004) to measure Motivation and CMC respectively. The sample population for the survey included 35 participants who volunteered to take the activity puzzle test twice a day for consecutive three days. All the puzzles had same instructions but they were not repetitive. Following three consecutive days, the students were requested to answer the ‘CMC competence questionnaire’ and ‘Motivation to Achieve’ questionnaire. The study identified a poor correlation between CMC and Motivation (r = .521) and the results were found to be insignificant. The conclusion from the survey could be stated that perception of the students high in motivation towards academic excellence is not a strong predictor for commitment towards CMC platforms. Only 1.2% (R2 = .012) of the variance scores of CMC and Motivation were supporting the analysis. This suggests that though the students are high academic achievers (mean = 16.08, N= 35), they still need to develop their attitudes towards technical ability, interest and the necessity to strive for excellence when it comes to online learning. With a lack in these areas and probably due to COVID 19 frustration, students showed poor motivation towards the online instructions or perhaps there still is a demand for face-to-face learning. The study could be expanded with more sample, gender difference studies and further empirical evaluations.