Motivation
I tell my students they have to be self-motivated, intrinsic learners. Motivation must come from within. I also tell my faculty that in the classroom they must motivate extrinsically and be role models to our students. Students need a hero, someone they can look up to. By sharing personal stories and issues they encountered related to the field they will motivated students to see the end goal.
Along these same lines, I have found that giving real-world application examples of the material being taught goes a long way towards fostering motivation in my students. I can drone on all day during lecture about a topic, but if I can't tell the students WHY they need to know it, where is the motivation going to come from?
Andrea, for those that have a harder time being self-motivated and intrinsic learners are there any controls at the point of entry into your programs where students get this message as part of the admissions process? I ask this question as some institutions are focused on bringing in high level self-motivated learners while others are focused on assisting those that need help in this area. Thanks for anything you can share.
James Jackson
Yes, also students must have a desire to learn or some type of interest in the subject, otherwise motivators may be ineffective. In the adult learning environment, the personal stories sometimes encourage the students to share their stories/experiences as well, which can further enhance the learning environment.
