Keyword: «external negative motivation»

The problem of learning motivation has long been in the center of scientific interest of teachers, psychologists and methodologists. As the analysis of literature showed, most of the research focuses on the educational motivation of students engaged in traditional or distance format. The purpose of the study is to examine learning motivation in the context of a blended (full-time-distance) format of conducting classes, as well as to analyze the motivational characteristics of students at different levels of higher professional education. The following questionnaires were used to study the motivational characteristics of students: test "Diagnostics of Professional and Educational Learning of Students" by K. Zamfir in the modification of A. A. Rean and the scale "Need for cognition" of the test-questionnaire "Diagnostics of self-actualization of a person" by A. V. Lazukin, adapted by N. F. Kalina. Comparative and correlation analyses were used to process the obtained data. Calculations were carried out using the SPSS Statistics 26 package. The research sample consisted of 377 students of N.P. Ogarev Mordovian State University and St. Petersburg State University of Economics, studying in three major groups of training areas (economics and management, social sphere, natural sciences), undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate levels. According to the results of the study, it can be concluded that external positive motivation is the prevailing type of motivation among students of the first stage of study, starting from the second year, while freshmen of undergraduate and specialty levels, as well as students of the second and third stages of professional training (graduate and postgraduate levels), are dominated by internal motivation. The study of the ratio of three types of motivation (motivational complex) showed that the worst motivational complex, according to the terminology of Zamfir – Rean, is more common among 1st year students, less often among graduate and postgraduate students. The results of the study contribute to the development of scientific ideas about the role of learning motivation at different stages of training. The presented material can be used for further study of the problems of motivation and for planning of the educational process.