Intrinsic motivation occurs when people have internal motivation towards the topic, as opposed to external motivation such as rewards and grades. Intrinsically motivated students consider the studied topic important or useful for themselves and enjoy studying. This drives them to put the effort into the studies and to overcome challenges.

• Before participating in a difficult project or training it can be useful to list the skills one practices during the project and how those skills will contribute to the personal goals one has.
• Providing multiple options to choose for the scope of the project and methods to be applied in a project assignment provides more autonomy for the learner and an opportunity to select the most interesting one.
• In the introduction of an online course, it is useful to describe the benefits of meeting the learning goals and the skills practiced during the course.
• A trainer can give an assignment for each course participant to write down what they want to learn and how will they benefit from learning those topics. At the end of the course, course participants can write down what they learned and how did the results compare to their expectations.

In addition to the motivating subject matter, intrinsic motivation can be supported by increasing the level of autonomy the learners have to select their own approach.

What study methods you find to be the most pleasant and motivating for yourself?

How could you provide more autonomy for your team in planning the projects they have to deliver?