ARTICLE Effects of the ARCS-V-based motivational strategies on online learners' academic performance, motivation, volition, and course interest Hasan Ucar 1 | Alper Tolga Kumtepe 2 1 Bilecik Seyh Edebali University, Bozuyuk Vocational School, Bozuyuk, Bilecik, Turkey 2 Anadolu University, College of Distance Education, Yunus Emre Campus, Eskisehir, Turkey Correspondence Hasan Ucar, Bilecik Seyh Edebali University, Bozuyuk Vocational School, 11300 Bozuyuk, Bilecik, Turkey. Email: hasanxucar@gmail.com Funding information Scientific Research Projects Commission, Grant/Award Number: 1505E436 Peer Review The peer review history for this article is available at https://publons.com/publon/10. 1111/jcal.12404. Abstract This exploratory experimental study investigates the impact of motivational strate- gies based on the Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction, and Volition (ARCS-V) model on online learners' academic performance, motivation, volition, and course interest. The research was conducted over an 11-week semester with 122 undergraduate online learners within two groups. One group received a traditional e- course, while the other group was offered the course with extra motivational strate- gies derived from the ARCS-V model. The results revealed that the group who used motivational strategies showed significantly higher gains in motivation, academic per- formance, and course interest scores. However, there were no significant differences between the groups regarding the volition. Furthermore, the motivation and interest variables were measured with Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction subscales of the ARCS-V model. In terms of interest variable, there was only a statis- tically significant difference on the Attention subscale. Regarding motivation variable, the results also showed a statistically significant difference on the attention, confi- dence, and satisfaction subsections of the ARCS-V model. The findings of the present study offer insights into ARCSV model-based research by examining the effects of the model as a valid and reliable framework for online learning environments. The implications and directions for future research are then discussed. KEYWORDS ARCS-V, learning motivation, motivation, online education, online learners 1 | INTRODUCTION The predominant understanding in traditional teaching is that it is the instructor's duty to teach content, while learners are responsible for their own learning and motivation (Keller, 2010). However, when new learning environments and information and communication technolo- gies are considered, this perspective seems to be partially outdated. Information and communication technologies have reshaped the learning environments and help to include structures that are related to motivation and learner support strategies in instructional design (Brookfield, 2003; Joo, Oh, & Kim, 2015); although while increasing and maintaining the motivation of learners when working face-to-face can be challenging, it is even more challenging and complicated in dis- tance learning environments. In such cases, motivation is considered a part of teaching, with the aim being to gain the learners' attention and to enhance their motivation through proper instructional design and activity planning (Smith, 2008; Xie & Huang, 2014). That said, there is more to motivation than meets the eye for many instructors and orga- nizations, so detailed research is needed to study the issue of motiva- tion in learning and teaching processes. The ever-accelerating adoption of technology in higher education has led to a rise in teaching methods that support traditional teaching Received: 28 December 2018 Revised: 20 September 2019 Accepted: 21 October 2019 DOI: 10.1111/jcal.12404 J Comput Assist Learn. 2019;1–15. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jcal © 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 1