Thursday, June 28, 2012

Think About It - Motivation and Learning


In 2008,  I found myself reflecting on the concept of motivation in learning as I took on the challenge of creating a 1 minute video to submit to Google as part of my GoogleTeachers Academy Application.  
I started to think back about those times in my classroom where students were immersed in the flow of learning -  times when I had to kick them out to attend their next class; times when they came in after school and on weekends to finish projects;  times when they asked to take classroom tools home so they could keep working on their projects. What did those times have in common?

In his book, Drive, Dan Pink  identifies AutonomyMastery, and Purpose as the keys to motivation.   Reflecting back on the project based learning environment I had designed in my classroom, I’d say that Pink’s research is spot on. 

According to Pink
  • People want to be self directed
  • People want to get better at stuff -  they seek the challenge of mastery (especially if it accompanies making a contribution)
  • People want to be parts of ‘teams’  or “organizations”  with a purpose.

As educators our challenge is to create learning environments that give our students the opportunity to latch on to a sense of purpose, so they can seek the mastery of skills  necessary to contribute to that purpose and give them the autonomy to contribute to that purpose in a way that honors their skills and passion.   This is not an easy tasks.  It takes a masterful educator who is purposeful in his/her instructional design to achieve this.  And there will be false starts; there will be recalibration; there will be projects that plainly don’t come together.  There is no easy recipe.  But one reoccurring element that I found in the most motivating learning designs was “authentic audience.  Thus was born the inspiration for my one minute video on motivation.  


With so many examples of students being motivated by authentic audience, the tricky part was editing it down to one minute.  I managed to squeeze in examples of students

But there are so many more.  And today’s digital age culture provides us with so many tools and opportunities for authentic audience to be part of the learning opportunities we provide to our students.

Yet, despite the research and the increased availability of tools and opportunities that the digital age culture provides us to learn with an authentic audience, schools and organizations continue to design motivational schemes based on carrots and sticks.

People don’t want to be treated like a horse.  Get rid of carrots and sticks and bring on autonomy, mastery, and purpose as you design a learning environment that yields high performance in your students. 

To learn more about Pink’s theories of motivation check out Vermont principal, Larry Fliegelman’s  blog post  ‘19 Top Ideas for Education in ‘Drive’    or RSA short video animation summarizing key concepts from Drive.



Think about experiences where you as a learner  or your students' motivation lead to amazing learning.  Share what this experience looked like.  What elements contributed to the motivation? When you think about these successful experiences, do you see  Maslow, Herzberg, Vroom,  Alfie Kohn, or Dan Pink’s theories at play? 



Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Aspiring Bloggers

We hope that the Google Tools For Schools project inspires you to start your own blog.  And of course you'll want to share your blog with us so we can read and comment.   So to all you Aspiring bloggers out there,  please share your blog address in the comments below.  And of course, you will want to give your fellow bloggers some blog love by commenting on their blogs. Looking forward to the conversation that emerges.

Welcome

Google Tools For Schools is a network of Google Tools Experts working with schools to help their students and staffs learn how to use Google Tools most effectively for teaching, learning, and completing their professional responsibilities.   In this blog you will find post that are filled with artifacts to help you think about teaching and learning in a digital age, along with tips and tricks for making the most of Google Tools. We hope you you join the conversation through your comments or by connecting post on your own blogs.  If there is a topic you hope we will cover in these blogs, please let us know by adding a comment on this post.