Experiences with Building Intrinsic Motivation Through Self Directed Projects

Abstract

In the effort to control and manage the task of assessing student work, there is a strong tendency in computer science (and many other disciplines) to give clearly defined tasks that are variations on or combinations of examples students have previously been shown. Although this makes assessment straight forward as students are expected to produce largely homogenous, convergent answers, it stifles students’ ability to be creative in their solutions and offer (possibly better) alternatives or to apply their knowledge to an alternative problem. As the tasks are defined by the lecturer, students may or may not see them as interesting or directly relevant. In this paper, I argue for allowing students to define their own projects for assessment purposes as a way of generating intrinsic motivation for their studies. I discuss how this is implemented in one course and the challenges and outcomes for the students and lecturers. Finally I present some guidelines for others who want to implement student-defined projects in their courses.