Hi Kimberly,
Thank you for sharing your approach for encouraging students to get and stay engaged in the learning process. Through their knowledge of your experiences they can see how they can have a career that is rewarding and engaging.
Gary
Understanding your students' goals and applying your experiences that show the connection will help motivate. They need to see the relevance in what you are teaching, even if the class may not be on a direct path to their goal. For example, how can an accounting class help an Arts major?
I believe that enthusiasm for the course content helps to motivate students. Another strong factor is teacher expertise and healthy competition.
Miss Kim
To motivate my students I try to get them to tell me what area of their field do they want to go in. I use my industry experience to guide them in that direction, either to tell them a boutique to research or a job they should get into that may lead to their dream job in time to telling them about my experience. Many of my students say that this is very helpful. I usually do this in the beginning and the end of the quarter. with some they need more assistance to motivate them more than this...I give everyone praises even the ones who are slipping, to try to convince them not to give up. It works for most but I'm still learning how to get to the others.
Hi Sean,
This is what makes it "real" for your students. They get to combine their knowledge with their skills and this helps them to get just that much closer to their career goals.
Gary
using open ended questions "what would you do in this situation...?" Having the students actively participate in lecture/demonstartion; At my campus this is very easy as we are extremely hands-on. We use a lot of product ID and so have many opportunities for the student to touch and feel and smell various items they will be using in the field.
Hi Earl,
Making it real to the students is critical. You are doing this through your approach. Keep up the good work.
Gary
I try to keep it fun and always try to relate the lesson to the real world. I explain why we are learning this particular technique and how it will help them in the future. I have learned that this is a fantastic motivator.
To bring them in real work site. Show them how everything links together
Hi Christopher,
Thank you for sharing this excellent way of bringing the "real world" into your classroom. You are giving your students experiences that reflect the conditions, situations and challenges that they will be facing in their careers.
Gary
Since I cannot really get much in the way of field trips with my particular field, I do the best I can to simulate the environment. As an example, I teach a lot of creative design techniques meant to help stimulate creativity and avoid cliche ideas. Most students will see this as a pointless step, but by turning the class into a design think-tank and running them through each step, they not only have a good deal of fun, but see, first-hand, that the ideas are significantly better than the ones suggested before each step.
Hi Jennifer,
This is a great idea because the students can see concrete evidence of how far they have come. Sometimes they get so involved in the process of being students they forget they are progressing toward their career goals.
Gary
I give a fairly easy quiz that lasts 6 or 7 min at the begining of class. Its open book, and most students get a 100.
its worth about 5% of thier grade and gives thenm confidence in the classroom.;
It also makes sure they come to class on time.
I am a culinary instuctor. As one of their projects, students are told to prepare a portfolio based on everything they have made, either in school or on their own at home. This is done twice. Once early on and again midway through their courses. We then review both side by side and the look of amazement on their faces when they realize how far they have progressed is inspiring.
Hi Marisa,
You have captured the essence of why sharing one's career experiences is important for students. They know you know your field and have been successful in it or you wouldn't be teaching it. Plus, it does as you say make you approachable since you have been where they want to go and that is successful in their career field.
Gary
Hi Ernest,
I agree with you on the intrinsic component. We can get the perfect learning environment but if we are not reaching the intrinsic needs of the students the "take aways" for the students will be little or none. They have to internalize why they are in the class and learning what they are. There are three areas in which students function in classes the physical, social and cognitive. By functioning in these three areas they will develop knowledge and skills that will enable them to achieve entrance in their career field. If they have internalized the "big picture" of their field and have an understanding of how all the various parts fit together then their chances of success are much higher.
Gary
I find that an instructor's personal experience provides great material for anecdotes that are applicable for classtime and to use in order to relate the class information to the students. The anecdotes are "real world" situations that your students may run into in their future in the field, and the students tend to find these tidbits helpful and memorable because they can picture themselves in that situation. It also makes the instructor much more "human" and therefore approachable.
I certainly agree that relevance and application have a central role in motivation. But, what I am trying to suggest here is that in addition to the extrinsic factors, we as instructors must also try to organize learning experiences in such a manner as to meet intrinsic needs as well. These, of course, vary from student to student, thus making the motivational role complex and challenging.
Hi Ernest,
The key to motivation may be complex as you have indicated but if we can reduce down to the basics meaning the students see application and relevance to their lives they will become engaged in the learning process. What we have to do is to continue to provide those opportunities to our students and let them see the applications that are possible.
Gary
Motivation techniques are essentially meaningless without a fundamental understanding of human behavior. Motivation is a complex issue and requires more than tricks and tips to successfully "move" an individual to become a learner. A simple discussion on the reticular arousal system, for example, will suggest several important relationship which will suggest strategies to increase reticular arousal, but without coupling that information with an understanding of the function of frontal lobe, left cerebral cortex, the arousal "technique" may result in nothing more than entertainment. There are no simple, sure fire techniques.
