8th May - MOTIVATION AND SELF-REGULATION IN LEARNING

Well, first things first: Congratulation DeeDee! Way to go! DeeDee is officially graduating. Those of us who've been in classes with you will certainly miss you; it won't be the same...

FINAL PROJECT guidelines were set forth by Kim using 5 criteria:
(1) Your presentation to the class should be 5-7 minutes long,
(2) Organization of your presentation and project counts strongly toward your mark,
(3) The "scope" of your project should build on what we've done in class, not simply repeat what we've done,
(4) Your subject matter should be pertinent to ITEC 800 which is about "Learning Theory," and
(5) Your must document your work; that is you must provide references, cites, etc.

Motivation was the subject, and Kim expressed the irony of studing this subject at the end of the semester when, traditionally, motivation is at its lowest point. On this subject, don't forget that Karmiel's Midterm Wiki was about Motivation and is still active.

Historically, as a result of Behavioralism motivation was considered an extrinsic factor of learning---being rewarded for a good performance. However, in the decade of the eighties researchers like Keller broke ground with a view of motivation as bi-dimensional: extrinsic and intrinsic. Keller had studied with Gagne; hence, Keller's ARCS Model for stimulating and sustaining motivation shares some elements with Gagne's Events of Instruction, especially gaining attention and feedback. Also, both Keller's and Gagne's models are practical devices usable by teachers and instructional designers.

Kim introduced intrinsic motivation by noting that it generally results from parental influence on the learner; it can be either a positive or negative influence on learner performance. Kim also described a New York Times article on a S. Korean High School at which "performance goals" (an extrinsic motivational component) were straight A's and acceptance into Princeton University. We had considerable discussion on the topics of learning goals and performance goals.

We viewed the Power Point Slides which were part of the assigned reading and are available via the link in iLearn , and we examined the components of Keller's ARCS model. The PPT slides also include suggestions for teacher behavior and instructional design elements which correspond to ARCS. Additionally, they provide some food for thought about the generational component of motivation: Are Baby Boomers and Millenials motivated in the same way---by the same things? If you have not viewed the PPT slides, do so as they are a very good summation of the topic as it pertains to ITEC.

We concluded our class time with team work based on the two scenarios in Chapter 9. Our goal was to develop, based on the given audience analysis, a scenario for creating and sustaining the motivation of our learners. Every group's solution had elements in common, especially making the subject matter relevant to the learner's life experiences and making certain that every learner would experience a palpable level of satisfaction in accomplishing their goals.
---posted by Walter Hanley