This journal entry focuses on motivation and takes a in-depth look at a statement made by Eric Jensen (in the Objective section), and also the speech made by Dan Pink in a TedTalks video.
Objective
“There is no such thing as an unmotivated student. There are, however, students in unmotivated states” — Eric Jensen.
In the Ted Talks video, Dan Pink shares his insight on motivation. Here’s the summary from the Ted Talks website:
If you want people to perform better, you reward them, right? Bonuses, commissions, their own reality show. Incentivize them. … But that’s not happening here. You’ve got an incentive designed to sharpen thinking and accelerate creativity, and it does just the opposite. It dulls thinking and blocks creativity.” (Dan Pink)
Reflective
Upon reading the statement above, I thought, “Ah ha! What an empowering statement!”
Upon watching Dan Pink in the TedTalks video, I thought, “That comes as no surprise. I agree!”
Interpretive
With his statement, I believe Eric Jensen is conveying that if students are unmotivated, it isn’t of permanence or necessarily consistent with their character. Rather, being unmotivated is a state from which students can be moved. I relate it to the concept in physics about potential energy, (energy at rest), and kinetic energy, (energy in motion). To move something from the state of potential energy to kinetic energy, something has to change in the environment or an action needs to be taken upon the item in the potential state. Thus, I found the statement empowering: I, as an instructor, can build an appropriate environment or approach teaching in a way that sparks students to learn. This is important as motivation paired with active learning results in student engagement (Barkley, 2010, p.6) which results in increased knowledge acquisition and general cognitive development (Pascarella and Terenzini, 1999, as cited in Barkley, 2010, p.4).
Pairing what I’ve discovered from Jensen’s statement with Dan Pink’s talk about motivation, gives me a plan of action in motivating students (discussed in the Decisional section). Pink explained that incentives can do the opposite of what you want them to do if you are looking to motivate individuals to be creative and think beyond whatever task you have put in front of them . If I were to relate this to teaching, it would be akin to using “good grades” as an incentive for students to learn. For some students and some learning tasks, this may work, but they may not go beyond course material, gain insight from other sources, relate it to their own experiences, etc. They would do what was necessary to get the grades. I can relate to what Pink is saying. In my own teaching scenario, I am teaching clients to use a software tool in a business environment. They wouldn’t be motivated by grades. It also wouldn’t make sense for me to provide them with monetary incentive to learn, as I’d probably put my employer out of business. Something else needs to be done to move my students into a motivated state.
Pink mentions that motivation for creativity and use of cognitive ability needs to incorporate three factors:
- Autonomy: the urge for individuals to direct their own lives.
- Mastery: the desire to get better at something that matters.
- Purpose: the desire to be part of something bigger than ourselves.
I concur with what Pink is saying. When training clients, I incorporate these three factors in my learning activities. In incorporating autonomy, when I train clients virtually on my company’s market research software tool, they are passed mouse control to complete learning tasks. I teach them the steps in the software, and repeat them if necessary; however, they are flying solo as the course progresses. I also ask them to work on their projects while taking the course so that they can immediately apply what they learn. They are responsible for their own education, their own projects, and their own successes.
Mastery is also incorporated. During the training sessions, there are discussions about how the learner’s success in learning the software tool translates into success in their jobs and for their companies. Their mastery of the tool means that they can rely on the tool when making million dollar decisions that can improve experiences for their own customers.
With respects to purpose, there are student discussions about how online research is a new area in the market research industry. The learners are part of a greater change that is taking place in their discipline; they are part pioneers. This relays to them that they are part of a larger movement.
These factors incorporated into the training program has resulted in many enthusiastic students. They are motivated to learn and to strive for success. However, based in my interpretations, I think more can be done in motivating my learners.
Decisional
From my interpretation, I have identified that if I were to come upon a student in an unmotivated state, I would first need to check my perspective on the situation. I would need to recognize that being unmotivated is a state and that I have the resources to move them into a motivated one. I feel as though there should never be a point where there isn’t something I could do for my students. I would need to assess why they are unmotivated to learn. I will set up a meeting with my training team to discuss the adoption of this attitude and to set up guidelines for assessing such situations.
Taking what Dan Pink has said in the TedTalk video, I will need to adopt more instructional strategies that incorporate Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose. One that comes to mind is the Jigsaw instructional strategy. This activity requires students to become experts on a topic and sharing this information with a group consisting of students who are experts on different but related topics. Learners are autonomous as they are in control of how they want to learn or present the information to the group. Mastery is accounted for as they need to be experts on their subject matter. Purpose is fulfilled in that they are part of something larger. In order to get a full picture of what is being learned, they are driven to learn from other members in their group and to teach the other members. The motivation lies in the learning activity itself.
Before I can adopt strategies like Jigsaw, I will need to research them. I will set time aside for my trainers (myself included) to research instructional strategies that satisfy the three mentioned factors. This may be through online resources (asking the Training & Development group on LinkedIn, watching YouTube videos, searching in Educational Databases, etc.) or a trip to the local library.
Although I feel the learners of my training program are motivated overall, there may be specific instances where they are not motivated. For example, they may be willing to learn in class, but they may not be motivated to complete assignments that would be beneficial to them. I will identify the areas where my learners are not motivated, and will develop strategies for approaching this issue. However, before we can do this, I think more research should be done on motivation.
Motivation has many theories and we can not rely solely on the one described by Pink. For instance, while studying for my Business degree, I had come upon a lot of theories about motivation. This includes Maslow’s Hierarchy, the Two Factor theory, etc. I believe some of these could be applied to teaching. I will ask my trainers to present a motivational theory in our next training seminar and to facilitate a discussion of it suitability.