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Review | Acta Pedagogia Asiana | Volume 5 - Issue 1 - 2026 | 65-72 | https://doi.org/10.53623/apga.v5i1.950
© 2026 by the author(s), and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License

AI am Motivated: Leveraging Self-Determination Theory in Chatbots

Author(s): Craig Sims 1 , Jack Moursounidis 1 , Rachel Sheffield ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2385-6381 , Nik Thompson 2 ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0783-1371 , Abhijeet Singh 2 , Anna Bunn 2 ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9671-1901 , Li Sha 2
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1 School of Education, Curtin University, Australia
2 School of Business and Law, Curtin University, Australia

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Acta Pedagogia Asiana

Volume 5 - Issue 1 - 2026

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Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbots promised to streamline administrative tasks and offer just-in-time support within higher education institutions. However, many existing chatbots prioritised simple information delivery over the cultivation of deeper student engagement and intrinsic motivation. This paper argued that Self-Determination Theory (SDT), a prominent framework for understanding motivation, offered a robust model for designing chatbots that went beyond passive answering to become active facilitators of student agency. SDT emphasised three core psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. This paper explored how the intentional integration of these needs into chatbot design could transform administrative support interactions into opportunities to empower students as self-directed learners.

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SUBMITTED: 07 December 2025
ACCEPTED: 11 January 2026
PUBLISHED: 19 January 2026
SUBMITTED to ACCEPTED: 36 days
DOI: https://doi.org/10.53623/apga.v5i1.950

Cite this article
Sims, C. ., Moursounidis, J. ., Sheffield, R. ., Thompson, N. ., Singh, A. ., Bunn, A. ., & Sha, L. . (2026). AI am Motivated: Leveraging Self-Determination Theory in Chatbots. Acta Pedagogia Asiana, 5(1), 65–72. https://doi.org/10.53623/apga.v5i1.950
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