#53. Let's Talk About Motivation...

Motivating students can be one of the hardest parts of teaching. There are a number of factors that impact student motivation both inside and outside of the classroom. In this post, I will share how blended learning can be utilized to increase student motivation. 

In 2009, Daniel Pink presented a Ted Talk called "The Puzzle of Motivation." If you haven't seen it yet, here is the link. It is less than twenty minutes long and with over 27 million views I can assure you it is well worth your time! In his talk he differentiates between the role of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in driving behavior. Extrinsic motivation is your typical "carrot or stick" approach to behavior. I use extrinsic motivators in my classroom in the form of grades, prizes, words of praise and sometimes as punishments like docked points or a detention. In my blended learning classroom, I provide an extrinsic motivator called "Flex Days." If a student is earning a C- or better in the class then they can choose to flex out on certain days and complete their lesson in a separate location at their own pace. It is a really effective motivator!

However, there are limits to extrinsic motivation. Pink found that with more complex behaviors "if/then" motivators do not work and can actually reduce motivation! Want to know more? You can learn more about this body of research here. As educators we rely heavily on extrinsic motivators to motivate our students but what if there is a better way? How can we, as educators, encourage intrinsic motivation in our students?

The answers may lie in Ed Deci and Richard Ryan's theory of self-determination and it's impact on intrinsic motivation. Deci & Ryan postulate that human beings are growth-orientated and there are three psychological needs that need to be fulfilled for growth to occur: Competency, Autonomy, and Relatedness. 

• Competency: Students need to feel like they can accomplish what they are being asked to do.
• Relatedness: Students need to feel supported and connected to other people
• Autonomy: Students need to feel in control of their own learning.

Self-determined behaviors are more likely to be intrinsically motivated and self-determined students are more likely to feel motivated to achieve. Human behavior is very complex and many behaviors are a combination of self-determined and non-self-determined (extrinsic) actions. There is a lot of overlap between the self-determination theory and Daniel Pink's work on intrinsic motivation. Pink added in "purpose" to his needs for intrinsic motivation. In other words, students need to feel like what they are doing has meaning.

Here is where the rubber meets the road and the theory becomes practice. As educators, we need to ask ourselves, how does my class meet these fundamental psychological needs for my students? Let's take a closer look at how we can meet these needs of our students using blended and traditional learning strategies.

1. Competency: Our students learn at different paces. One change that I implemented last year was testing for mastery. My ultimate goal is for my students to learn the material in my class, not to learn it in a predetermined period of time. Therefore, I let them take assessments, called Mastery Checks, more than once if needed. The students get a different version of the assessment each time. You can learn more about my process in this blog post. The feedback that I received from my students regarding mastery checks was overwhelmingly positive. They felt less stressed about the assessments and many of them took them more than once. However, a few indicated that they missed unit tests because they "forced" them to study. This year I am considering including mastery checks throughout the unit and a summative assessment at the end of each unit. If you are looking for an effective way to structure your class to allow for students learning at different paces, the Modern Classrooms Project provides an excellent framework.

2. Relatedness: Relationships matter. I don't think this could be any more obvious after what many of us experienced teaching during the pandemic. I took for granted how the daily interactions that I have with my students build relationships. I didn't realize how much I rely on those relationships to motivate my students. One of my favorite things about blended learning is that it provides me with a great deal of flexibility. I use this flexibility to meet one-on-one with students to do side-by-side grading, teacher-led stations, and coaching individual students during flex time. In addition to student-teacher relationships, student-student relationships matter too! I found that I had to be a little more creative meeting these needs during online instruction. I utilized our LMS for online discussions, as well as platforms like Padlet and FlipGrid to allow my students to communicate with each other. I am hopeful that next year we will be in-person and this will allow for more "normal" activities like think-pair-shares and in-class discussions. If you are looking for others ideas to connect with students, check out this strategy called "Moments of Genuine Connection."

3. Autonomy: I like to provide my students with agency whenever possible. This involves giving them a voice and choice in their learning. Blended learning offers the opportunity for the students to personalize their learning experience. One way that I have given my students a voice and choice is through student projects. For example, here is a project that I used for the students to demonstrate their understanding of the human brain. You can see an example of their work in the picture to the right. It might be my most favorite student project ever! Another way to increase student agency is through design-based thinking. In this guest post, Eric Chandler shares how he uses design-based thinking in his English classroom to increase student agency. Catlin Tucker also provides some excellent examples of student agency in this post.

Feeling autonomous, competent and connected are fundamental psychological needs. There is a large body of research that shows the relationship between the fulfillment of these needs and an increase in student well-being. Whenever possible we should strive to provide students with opportunities to fulfill these needs in our classrooms. As you begin to plan for next year, I urge you to consider the following question when designing your lessons: How am I helping my students meet their needs for autonomy, competency and relatedness in my classroom? I would love to hear from you about how you structure your own classroom to meet the needs of your students! Please comment below with your thoughts and questions.

References:

Compton, W. C., & Hoffman, E. (2020). Positive psychology: the science of happiness and 

flourishing. SAGE. 

Ferlazzo, L. (2015, September 14). Strategies for Helping Students Motivate Themselves. Edutopia. 

Grolnick, P. B. W., & Grolnick, W. (2018, July 12). Motivating the Unmotivated Student. Psych Learning Curve. http://psychlearningcurve.org/motivating-the-unmotivated-student/. 

Social PsyClips. (2011). Ed Deci on Self Determination Theory. 

https://vimeo.com/30754832. 

TED Talk. (2009). The puzzle of motivation.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrkrvAUbU9Y. 

What Is Self-Determination Theory (SDT) & Why Does It Matter? GQR. (2020, May 27). https://www.gqrgm.com/what-is-self-determination-theory-sdt-why-does-it-matter/#:~:text=Self%2DDetermination%20is%20a%20theory,Edward%20Deci%20and%20Richard%20Ryan.&text=The%20theory%20looks%20at%20the,are%20Autonomy%2C%20Competence%20and%20Relatedness.