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“There is no such thing as an unmotivated student. There are, however, students in unmotivated states” — Eric Jensen.

 

Dan Pink’s TED Talk  describes his case for the “mismatch” between what business does and what science shows in terms of current understanding about motivation.  He says that social science research has shown repeatedly that the traditional reward/incentive system for improving performance only works in situations where the desired outcome and the path to achieving it are very clear and concrete; do this and that and you will succeed.  Extrinsic rewards however have been show to actually hinder performance in situations where the path to success is not clear and involves creative thought.  The thinking on this phenomenon is that external rewards limit creative thinking by causing an individual’s focus to be narrowed – eyes on the prize – rather than open to a variety of options – thinking outside the box.    Pink goes on to describe the intrinsic motivators that encourage open and creative thinking, namely, autonomy, mastery and purpose.  When individuals have these as motivators, productivity goes up and whole new products/services/etc are developed almost by accident.  Pink’s vision is that one day, business will catch up, as it were, with science and be ready for the demands of the 21^st century.

Reflecting on the video and on the statement above, I completely agree.  It seems to be obvious really, but I also see how the dominant paradigm in many disciplines is still the “carrot and stick” model.  I frequently find myself using that model in my work, although it is usually the stick more than the carrot in social services!  I think Jensen’s statement is again proof of Pink’s thesis, that we can all attain high performance levels if we have the right motivators for the situation.

These ideas are closely connected to Ken Robinson’s in the TED Talk, “Changing Education Paradigms”.   Robinson points out that the public education system was developed within the ideals of the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution and the basic plan has not changed significantly since then.  The world, however, has changed considerably, and many students are being alienated from education and learning as a result.  As Pink says about business, Robinson says the same for education; they are based on concepts still rooted in the 19^th and 20^th centuries and not well adapted for the 21^st.

So, why are we so attached to ideas that have clearly outlived their usefulness?  A large part of our attachment is cultural, I believe, rooted in these 19^th century western ideals around individualism and capitalism.  We grow up believing that the harder you work, the more you produce and the more you will be rewarded.  Beliefs we developed from the cradle take some time to change, but they can eventually change.  I think a larger problem is simply institutional inertia.   HUGE bureaucracies and corporations have been built on these concepts and change is anathema to them.  The fact that they have been impervious to decades of research in motivation, for example, is testament to that.  They are trapped in their own carrot and stick paradigm.

This has resulted in education systems based on passive learning, with student motivation viewed as a behavioural issue, rooted in the student, rather than an instructional issue, with the instructor playing a key role in its development.  Rather than relying on the traditional methods of external rewards and punishments, instructors need to help their students find the internal motivators that will power them through their education.

This brings me to the need for a plan on what I can do as an instructor  to honour the ideas discussed above.   I think a key factor in motivating students then is finding ways to meet their need for autonomy, mastery and purpose, as described by Pink.    In order to increase autonomy, I look to the example in Barkley’s text, Student Engagement Techniques: A handbook for college faculty, of Barkley’s own approach to teaching her music appreciation class (p. 54-58).  Barkley gave her students control over their attendance in class, the types of assignments they completed and over their grades by allowing them to choose different assessment tools.  I think it would be quite “doable” for me to have students decide the types of assessments they wished to be rated on as well as having a choice on types of learning activities they wish to complete.

In terms of helping learners increase their mastery, Barkley’s example of Nicole Gray’s “Math My Way” program (p.59-62) shows that even in anxiety-inducing subjects, learning tasks can be developed to increase mastery and confidence.  She did this by giving students immediate and regular feedback on their performance so that success and confidence was increased and failure avoided.  I think this could be accomplished in my teaching activities by scheduling frequent informal assessments and ensuring that students are all receiving regular feedback on their performance.

Finally, and perhaps most challenging, is helping students develop a sense of purpose in their learning.  In order to have students see the bigger picture and how their learning is connected to their lives,  I look to the example in Barkley of Judy Baker’s strategy of using students who have had certain experiences as the experts and encouraging the class to use them as a resource (p. 49).  In this way she shows students that they all have something to contribute and that by sharing they increase our collective knowledge.  I could incorporate this particular strategy into my work by encouraging students to share their stories and lead group activities on topics they have experience with.   Other methods to illustrate the connections in their learning would be to have students engage in activities such as application cards, learning logs, web quests, etc.  These activities could help students see that their learning has real world applications and meaning.

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