If it is a fact that, “intrinsic motivation occurs when one engages in a task for which there is no apparent reward except the pleasure of the activity” (Deci, 1975) Then what is the purpose for assigning grades to an assignment. An opposing theory is that “extrinsically motivated individuals engage in tasks for rewards associated with successful accomplishment.” (Deci, 1975) I have been trying to balance these concepts in the classroom this semester and feel like I have had a breakthrough.
Keeping Students Engaged with Meaningful Goals
Upon entering the classroom, I usually greet students on the first day with a list of rules that I expect them to uphold. One specific line that I give them every time is if you are on time then you are late, if you are early then you are on time, and if you are late then you are fired. I tell them this in hopes that they will obey and start a good regimen of habits that will follow them into the workplace once they graduate. So, if my goals are to inspire and be the best role model and influence on the students that I can why do I start off on day one by threatening them with their job that they don't even have yet. Seligman states that, “When people do not have positive expectancies for success or when they have been unable to avoid failures and catastrophes over which they have no control, they can develop feelings of helplessness.” (Seligman, 1975) This semester I have tried something different, on day one of the semester I have the students engaging in an ungraded project with their peers. No lecture or talking about definitions and theories, just straight up hands-on learning that have a direct connection to the reason that they are taking the class in the first place.
Teamwork Makes the Dreamwork
Group assignments have been one of the biggest challenges over the past semesters with students. I've tried many different strategies for selecting groups including random, balancing groups by skill level and letting students choose their own groups. This semester's method is allowing the students to determine their group without letting them know that they are doing so. I begin by assigning an ungraded project letting them know this is to work out the kinks and to get your feet wet. Then as the submissions begin to come in I make the groups determined by the order of the projects submitted. Inevitably all the hustlers and go getters end up in groups together and the slackers and students that waited till the last minute Become the last group which by default ends up with extra members. So the group with more members has the weaker skill levels and the stronger students are in smaller groups toward the front of the pack. The second method I have been employing is to assign everyone a task within a full class group project that is determined by their strengths and weaknesses in the subject. This has helped with giving the weaker students in the class a sense of ownership and belonging to the class as a whole. This is also proved to be a positive aspect in creating a community throughout the classroom.
Let’s Make Something
the program that I teach in is audio production and engineering. Within the program I teach 5 classes per semester ranging from recording techniques, sound production, Pro Tools, and sound design for picture. The common goal throughout all these classes is that students want to have a finished product that they can show off to their family friends and future employers. With that in mind you can understand how me talking for three hours about compressors and analog to digital conversion would put a student to sleep when what they really want to do is make a phat beat. I have reimagined the class flow and found a way to incorporate all of the learning outcomes within the syllabus into projects that we work on together as a team. I include myself as part of the team so that I can show them that there isn't a hard and fast rule for every scenario and that even I have to figure out how to make things happen depending upon the challenge that is presented. “In other words, use of feedback that reinforces a student for successfully completing an opti-mally challenging task by including a congratulatory com-ment together with an internal attribution for success helps sustain intrinsic satisfaction.” (Brophy, 1981)
Conclusion
In conclusion as educators, we really need to think about the moments in our life that we learned the most and when we would typically become disengaged in the classroom. By combining different learning strategies and applying motivational theories we can fix this system. It will only take a little work from everyone to make a big difference. We might even learn something along the way!
References:
Deci, E. L., & Porac, J. (1978). Cognitive evaluation theory and the study of human motivation.
In M. R. Lepper & D. Green (Eds.), The hidden costs of reward. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
YouTube. (2017). What Makes a Good Teacher Great. YouTube. Retrieved February 18, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrU6YJle6Q4.
Seligman, M. E. (1975). Helplessness. San Francisco: Freeman.
Brophy, J. E. (1981). Teacher praise: A functional analysis. Review of Educational Research, 51, 5–32.
Howard, A. C. B. (2022, November 14). A teacher's Guide to Student engagement. Influencing Identity. Retrieved February 18, 2023, from https://www.nametag.com/nametagexperience/student-engagement
Ferlazzo, L. (2021, March 5). Ways to promote student engagement (opinion). Education Week. Retrieved February 18, 2023, from https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-ways-to-promote-student-engagement/2019/10
Relevance to Goals Through Hands-On Learning
The concept by Reiser and Dempsey, which suggests a link between perceived goal relevance and learning motivation, finds clear support in the blog (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017). The author describes a shift from traditional lecture-based instruction to hands-on, ungraded projects on the first day of class, directly connecting to the student’s interests in audio production and engineering (Seaman, 2023). This approach aligns with the principle by showing students the practical relevance of their coursework right from the start. When students see that what they are learning directly applies to their personal and professional aspirations, their motivation and engagement increase significantly.
Belief in Success Through Structured Group Work
The author's new approach to group assignments…
Outcomes to the learning task
How often is learning stifled by rules or expectation reinforcement? Many protocols, procedures, and policies are intended to motivate students to learn but drive them away from learning. “Extrinsic reinforcement can sometimes have an undermining effect on intrinsic interest (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017, 81). In this post, the author gives several examples of rules or procedures “undermining” the learning interest. Classroom management suggests control and command from the one doing the “managing.” Teachers would benefit by implementing Classroom engagement rather than management.
Classroom engagement would be focused on helping students reach outcomes through informational feedback on behavior, progress, and achievement. Depending on the grouping method, even grouping can elicit a negative experience for learners. The…
Gabriel Rivera Esquilin
Full Sail University, IDT520
Sat, 08/12/2023
Learning with the Class, While Teaching by Example
Learner Engagement Principle:
In his TED Talk about the qualities of great teachers, Azul Terronez highlights the importance of learning alongside students. This aligns with the learner engagement principle developed by Reiser and Dempsey, which emphasizes the need to capture learners' attention and keep them interested through active participation. Terronez's ideas reinforce the principle's focus on creating a learning environment where educators act as co-learners, exhibiting genuine enthusiasm and curiosity. By modeling a commitment to continuous learning, teachers inspire students to take an active role in their education and remain motivated throughout their educational journey.
Interface Engagement Principle:
One effective teaching strategy is…
Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivation
MTSeaman (2023) begins the study with his struggle to balance intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in the classroom. Questioning the purpose of assignment scoring in academics. Li et al. (2022), note that intrinsic motivation is not dependent on external pressures. According to Deci (1975), the only reward is the enjoyment of the activity. Extrinsic motivation relies on external results, unrelated to the task (Li et al., 2022). This motivation is rewards-based (Deci, 1975) or due to external regulation (Li et al., 2022). Awarding grade values to assignments is an example of external regulation. Consequently, extrinsic motivation harms intrinsic motivation (Deci, 1975). In a study of 414 Chinese higher-learning environments. Extrinsic motivation did not significantly affect learner engagement…
Tracey Lindsey
June 3, 2023
LEARNING WITH THE CLASS, WHILE TEACHING BY EXAMPLE
In the Ted talk video titled “What Makes a Good Teacher Great”, students were provided the question and asked to share what they felt make a good teacher a great teacher. Azul Perronez talks about how to really impact your learners, teachers must become really good listeners (YouTube, 2107). In order to connect to our learners, we as teachers should be focusing more on learning by example, stepping in with our learners and being vulnerable and willing to learn alongside them.
Making the Connection
As stated in Chapter 9 of the Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology, we as educators can teach an aspect of…