Examining the Usage of Persuasive System Design to Drive Motivation for Learning Programming

Learning to program is challenging, and the dropout and pass rates in programming courses have remained an issue for several decades. Many students experience difficulties in gaining the necessary programming skills. Hence, students in programming courses need to be motivated to maintain the required effort to develop programs. The current problem is that not all students—in particular, non-computer-science majors—have the same motivation or interest to pursue programming as part of their studies. Therefore, there is a need to keep students motivated while they pursue programming activities. Accordingly, this research aimed to examine the impact of applying persuasive system design (PSD) principles to develop the instructional design of a programming course in order to improve students’ motivation for learning programming. This study followed the design science research (DSR) methodology by adapting Peffers et al.’s (2007) model to develop the instructional design for an introductory online programming course, into which it incorporated PSD principles. The programming course was deployed in a free Canvas account and covered the fundamental topics in introductory programming. Mixed methods were employed for data collection, encompassing pre-test and post-test assessments, log-system analysis and semi-structured interviews with voluntary participants to assess the influence of the course design on their motivation. First, a Programming Motivation Questionnaire, adapted from the Science Motivation Questionnaire-II, was used to measure their motivation before and after they took the designed programming course. This adapted questionnaire consists of five subscales: intrinsic motivation, career motivation, self-efficacy, self-determination and grade motivation. Second, a thematic analysis was conducted to identify the themes that emerged from the interviews. The results showed that the intervention had a positive impact on the participants’ motivation. Analysis of data from the 89 participants completed pre- and post-questionnaires revealed a significant enhancement of their motivation level (from a mean of 3.62 and median of 3.96, respectively, to a mean of 4.08 and median of 4.28, respectively). Further, a Wilcoxon signed-rank test revealed a statistically significant increase in motivation after taking this course, with a medium effect size. Moreover, the thematic analysis identified various themes, which supported the quantitative results. The themes identified that the effects of the course on the participants’ experience, such as motivation, encouragement, self-efficacy and satisfaction, were prevalent among the 10 interviewees. Thus, this research contributes to the literature that addresses issues surrounding learning programming. It provides an alternative solution to stimulate students’ motivation and avoid increasing instructors’ workload. This study also reveals the role of various PSD principles in developing the instructional design and the impact of an instructional design decision on students’ motivation. Future research should examine the application of PSD in traditional courses in higher education. Conducting the study during an academic semester will provide a more comprehensive understanding of how PSD influences the motivation of students from various domains.