How to Motivate Students and Improve Learning

Goals – Participants will:

. reflect on personal experiences with motivation and relate those experiences to concepts of motivational theory. . consider design principles to enhance student motivation and identify principles that they can apply in their courses/interactions with students.

Agenda:

. Self reflection . Overview: Basics of Motivational Theory (McKeachie’s Teaching Tips) o Autonomy and Self-Determination – “We can enhance students’ sense of control by offering meaningful opportunities for choice and supporting their autonomy, which in turn enhances motivation.” o Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation – “Intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation exist not on a single continuum but on two separate ones, and students may often have multiple goals for the same course.” o Expectancy-Value Theory – “Students typically direct their behavior toward activities that they value and in which they have some expectancy of success (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000).” o Mastery and Performance Goals – Motivated behavior is directed toward goals, and goals related to learning tend to reflect two broad types of purposes: mastery goals and performance goals (Ames, 1992).” . Mastery goals are related to a desire to understand and master material. . Performance goals are related to comparisons of ones performance with the performance of others. . “Overall mastery goals lead to more adaptive outcomes…” o Attribution Theory – Relates to the students explanation of outcomes. . Typical attributions are effort, ability or luck and they can be categorized along three dimensions: locus (internal or external), stability (stable or unstable) and responsibility (controllable or not). o Social Goals and Social Motivation – desire to be socially responsible and form relationships with peers. . Relating Motivational Theory to Personal Experience . Consider the Application of Design Principles to Enhance Student Motivation . Workshop Evaluation

Materials:

. McKeachie’s Teaching Tips, 12th ed., Chapter 12 . Motivational Generalizations and Design Principles Handout