I try to keep variety in the forefront of my planning and teaching. I use as much technology as possible, and I use a variety of resources so that the format of their materials is not always the same.
Amanda,
This is such a great way to help them see the value of what they are learning and the contributions they will be making to their profession once they are in it. This is the ROI factor for them and their career growth.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I teach medical assisting and one point I like to "drive home" to my students is that they are not "just" a medical assistant. They are not "just" anything. Nurses, doctors, and patients rely on their skills and knowledge as a team. It is interesting to see how the students efforts improve; because they have confirmation that their career choice, hard work, and mistakes are not in vain.
Students usually enjoy working together on projects. When I get complaints from some saying they would rather work on their own, I remind them of their career choice - culinary. Working as a chef requires effective interpersonal skills and being involved in groups gives them an opportunity to develop these skills.
David,
This is a great motivator I would think since your field has such a rich and interesting history to connect with and build upon. Knowing a part of such history should inspire students in terms of their contributions to the field as they create a future for themselves.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I teach culinary arts, therefor I am trying to link the class content to an idea or ideal of craftsmanship. I try to instill a hertitage of culinary arts as many,many generations of collected knowledge and craft skills.
Katherine,
Thank you for sharing your story with us. I love hearing stories like this because it shows just as you mention that with self discipline and effort success can be achieved. I congratulate you on your progress thus far and am excited as you close in on your completion of your dissertation. You will soon be a new doc and helping to advance the educational growth of your field.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
One strategy I use for increasing student motivation is sharing my own educational pursuits. I'm nursing faculty at a career college. I started at a career college. Because I had to support myself, it took five years to get my BSN. Seven years later, I got my first Master's in Healthcare Administration. Seven years later, I got my MSN. Two years later, I began working on my PhD. Two years and a half years later, I am now all but dissertation.
So.... even a career college graduate can obtain so much more.
Virgil,
Yes, they do. It is fun when they get excited about receiving a reward for completing a project or activity.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Keep a reward system. Students do well when working towards a goal.
Tammy,
Good way to establish yourself as the learning leader and from there on it is a process of sharing your knowledge and expertise in concert with the content you are teaching them.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Ive found that, when starting a new class, if while introducing myself I give an overview of my background, my history and some examples of my experiences. This helps establish myself with my students and it seems to gain a level of respect that helps to build a working relationship.
Some strategies for increasing student motivation would to be engaged in the students learning while continuing to deliver content that the student can identify with. Bruce I have to agree with you using real word examples will surely motivate a student when you are mentioning opportunity, money and professional growth.
Regards,
Anthony Allen
Mary,
Passion for one's field goes a long way in retaining students as you mention. When you combine passion with enthusiasm for teaching about it then learning is going to occur and students will be motivated.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I make it clear that I am passionate about teaching them to be quality health professionals. I care about their success and will be available to help them through the process.
Conchi,
I use them a lot as well. They really get students ramped up and excited to use what they have been learning. We have teams and they get competitive very quickly. The end result is that they have had fun and have figured out that they really did learn a lot.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I find "games" quite motivating for students.
I really like this idea as I haved used it and found success.
Leonard,
One of the best motivators I have found it to bring in graduates that have been successful in the field. The students connect with the graduates and see them as peers. The students start to see themselves in the career that the graduate talks about and for many that is the first time in their lives they see the ROI of being in school and working hard. The other motivator is to take field trips if possible to the career sites. I also use job shadowing as a motivator.
On a more classroom level I use a lot of rewards such as candy or pizza. Adult students are just taller children in many ways so I reward them with candy for answering questions when we play Jeopardy for review. These are extrinsic rewards but can easily become intrinsic once the students start to realize how much they have learned. Hope some of these suggestions will work for you.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
What are some strategies for increasing student motivation?
Extrinsic versus intrinsic factors. You certainly can motivate a student by helping them achieve a high letter grade: extrinsic. But I believe helping a student to understand the value; creating value, you will successful motivate the student. So I use the strategy of helping the student to understand the benefit of moving forward.
