Online Art School - Motivation

Rewards and punishments are known as extrinsic motivation, that is, they are motivators outside the task itself and are designed to make the task seem worthwhile. Classic examples are:

"if you don't get this finished then...(threat)"

"If you do your work, then you'll get...(reward)"

It's the old 'carrot and stick' approach, and sometimes it is necessary. What I find though, and it is well researched, is that as necessary as this is in some instances, this is actually less effective than intrinsic motivation.

Intrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation is the desire to do an activity because the activity itself is seen as enjoyable. Students are more highly motivated when they can develop an enjoyment of learning for its own sake - for the knowledge, skills, abilities and undierstandings they can gain, and not because of some reward or punishment. Intrinsic motivation is much more effective than extrinsic motivation in the long term. What's more is, intrinsic motivation helps students not just to learn something, but to really value what they are learning.

You can build student motivation and encourage intrinsic motivation by:

> Building excitement - use anticipation in the learning process itself so that new learnings are revealled in ways that enhance the pleasure of discovery for students

> Modeling enthusiasm for learning - if you are keen, then there's much more chance that your students will be. Speak with enthusiasm and show a love for your subject

> Targetting lessons at student interests - plan activities that maximise student interest by select topics that you know students will enjoy learning about

> Rewiring your language - speak of learning activites as enjoyable and fun in themselves (not something to be done in order to 'get the carrot')

> Moderating Difficulty - set learning activites that are achieveable but challenging - not too easy and not too difficult. This is called aiming learning to the "ZPD" or Zone of Proximal Development - the area just beyond one's current abilities and forces one to stretch and grow.

> Making it Purposeful and Personal - if students can see the use for something they are learning, and can relate it to their own life in some way, applying it to themselves personally, they will be more interested and motivated to find out about it

> Providing Students with Options - We all like to have control, and giving learning activities that have a range of options increases students' control over their own learning, providing the opportunity to choose a more favourable learning topic or method.