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Implications of Learning Motivation for Instruction
Keeping all of the information given above in mind, instructors may want to take the following measures to maximize their students' chances for success.
Identify student goals
Students attend college and take specific courses for a variety of reasons based on different goals (occupational, educational, social, etc). All of these goals influence their motivation to learn. Many may not come to college with clear, specific goals, and this in turn affects the amount of importance they will place on certain courses and the amount of time and energy they will allot to learning the material. Some students desire or otherwise need guidance in identifying or clarifying their goals. Many need to be shown (or convinced of) the relevance of the course to these goals and to their lives in general. Instructors, therefore, need to identify this relevance while designing the course, discuss it at the beginning of the course, and reinforce it frequently.Assess motivation
In Classroom Assessment Techniques (Angelo & Cross, 1993) instructors can find numerous tools to help uncover their students' motivations for learning. For example, conducting a Course-Related Self Confidence Survey allows students to rate their self-perceived confidence in topics related to the course. The Focused Autobiographical Sketch can be used early in the course to help instructors determine how their students' past successes and failures may be related to their willingness to take on learning challenges which are important to the course. Tools like these can be valuable in looking for ways to modify curriculum and adjust teaching strategies that will allow the most success in their students' learning.Challenge & encourage
Instructors can increase students' optimism for potential success and consequently decrease their fear of failure by providing moderate, non-threatening levels of challenge. The rationale is based on the fact that students' perception of their ability to succeed depends on both their perception of the level of difficulty and their self-confidence in their ability to succeed in that task. Allowing students to revise their own work, giving them choices in assignments, and always providing some amount of positive feedback on all learning tasks will increase their sense of control, responsibility, and mastery.Tap into intrinsic motivation
By learning to make meaning of something and being able to use new information, students begin to have an intrinsic motivation to learn. All too often, students are accustomed to working for extrinsic motivating factors such as fulfilling requirements, grades/rewards, and avoiding punishment. In order to help students foster intrinsic motivations, instructors should avoid the excessive use of grades or penalties (less emphasis on substance and more on performance), be enthusiastic about the course content, provide relevant examples that connect with existing knowledge, actively discuss and review what they have mastered so far, and apply principles such as problem-based learning early on in the course.Student Preparedness
Although learning theory provides a general entry to the question of how students learn, college teachers must also be aware of differences in learning across individuals. One of the most difficult issues in beginning to teach a new group is assessing the entry level of the students (i.e., level of preparation in and previous experience with the subject matter, level of cognitive development, repertoire of learning styles, level of interest and motivation). This knowledge is extremely important to effective teaching; a poor understanding of the needs and abilities of students can result in teaching that is at an inappropriate level of difficulty or is irrelevant to the needs of the students. There are several quick ways of assessing this entry level at the beginning of the term. In Classroom Assessment Techniques, Angelo and Cross (1993) discuss different means of determining prior knowledge, preconceptions, and misconceptions. Methods for assessment include student information cards (asking for previous experience, reasons for taking the class, etc.), an ungraded previous knowledge quiz, and class brainstorming on the subject matter of the class. previous page |
