Despite the emerging research regarding online learning, little attention has been given to students’ intrinsic motivation in online courses. Therefore, this research was conducted to determine the level of students’ intrinsic motivation in fully-online courses environment. (IMeL) questionnaire with 127 graduate level participants was used to answer the research questions which are (1) What is the level of graduate students’ intrinsic motivation in fully online courses? (2) Is there a significant difference in the level of graduate students’ intrinsic motivation in fully online courses in terms of: (gender, registration status, employment status, and experience with fully online courses)? Findings revealed that graduate students had high level of intrinsic of motivation in online courses environment. The study found that there is a statistically significant difference in the level of graduate students’ intrinsic motivation in fully online courses in terms of gender. It was also found that there are no statistically significant differences in the level of graduate students’ intrinsic motivation in fully online courses in terms of registration status, employment status, and experience with fully online courses. More future qualitative method research is needed in order to understand the nature of intrinsic motivation in online learning environment profoundly.
Keywords: Graduate Students, Intrinsic Motivation, online learning
