Inspiration is arguably the holy grail in higher education and can become a key driver of student educational actions inside the classroom and activities outside the classroom. However, there is increasing anecdotal evidence that students are less inspired but rather disengage with the university in general and specific aspects of the educational experience during COVID, such as lectures and online content. Despite recent interest in the role of inspiration in education (DeCoito, 2022), theory about the nature, dimensions, origins and effects of educational inspiration is underdeveloped. We therefore explore the notion of inspiration within Higher Education.
Using a data triangulation approach, we first assess how often the word 'inspiration' is used on three top-tiered university websites in Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Next, we conducted a content analysis of sample university articles that mention inspirational themes and educators. Third, we analyze student posts on Reddit (Stage 3) and student responses through an informal open-ended questionnaire (Stage 4) to identify factors that students associate with the term inspiration and inspirational student experiences versus the term motivation.
As illustration, one top University used inspired nearly 69,000 times on its website. Stories on inspiration mainly contained themes of influence of university research work while content of Reddit posts revealed key themes of hope, doing what they enjoy and realizing potentials, curiosity, helping others and changing the world. Finally, student survey responses highlighted the external sources of influence, including people, experiences, and stimuli that spark creativity and passion. The findings indicate differences in inspiration's meaning and how it is created which provide important implications for communication, education, and support for university students as well as in lecturer training and alumni engagement and fundraising.