Enhancing motivation for homework exercises in engineering mathematics class

Engineering Mathematics is a core course/subject for many engineering programs and is included in the early years of the program in most universities. At Eynesbury Institute of Business and Technology in Adelaide, South Australia, this course is offered in a pathway program. In this course, a combination of factors prevents students from succeeding academically. Lack of motivation creates a failure to transfer appropriate knowledge to the current academic situation. Positive motivational beliefs can lead to increased academic performance through engagement with classroom tasks.To improve the students’ success rates in this subject/course, it was decided to give more focus to the issues related to homework exercises. Initially, the reasons for poor performance in homework assignments were investigated: a series of strategies was then developed to address these issues. Furthermore, these strategies were implemented and their effectiveness was evaluated.The strategies adopted comprised making the homework exercises part of the assessment; changing the assessment questions to suit the students by including real-life situations; and conducting discussion on homework exercises at the end of every class. These strategies were implemented and a survey was conducted to obtain feedback from students. The survey results were then analysed to determine the success of the plan.The survey conducted after the implementation of the new strategies showed significant improvement in the participation rate and student engagement. Moreover, good academic results were achieved by the participating students in their final examination.