Motivation vs Pushing...
In our current educational environment, I have come to notice more policies that push the students through school as opposed to motivating them. How can you motivate the student, without feeling like you are pushing them through? If the students are not enganged with many different efforts and avenues utilized, what is the next step?
Thank you for your thoughts and responses.
Harlan,
Thank you for sharing. You have to develop your online persona so they can connect with you. It is hard when students have no interest or have so many distractions. Kudos for you for finding a way to make your course relevant to them.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I have found the more I can keep my students engaged in the course the better they do, the more interesting I can make it today the more they want to be there tomorrow. I have a class that most students come into with little to no interest in taking but it is required. when I start to show them how they can use this knowledge to benefit them in there everyday lives I gain a lot of my lost souls back.
Chezree,
Great post with an interesting viewpoint. Could you create a "project calendar" for a writing project that could be embedded into a course that would help them project their workload. Then you and the instructor could continually point to the calendar.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
That is a tough question to answer!
As an embedded librarian, I've started collaborating more with the instructors to understand different assignments that require some form of research. Recently, there has been a push to implement APA formatting and higher awareness and tracking of plagiarism. Because our students are crunched for time, I've had many admit that they wait until the night before an assignment is due to begin searching for resources. Several do not even understand how to do research, which generally results in a word-for-word transfer of information without citing properly.
It’s very difficult for me to encourage students to attend a virtual library session which will allow them to receive comprehensive instruction on APA formatting, avoiding plagiarism, and how to perform specific search strategies using the research capabilities in the library to find information that is relevant to their topic. The students who do attend have provided feedback that they feel this saves them so much time when putting together resources on an assignment and using the built in citation tools to generate a bibliography. The training guides that they receive after an orientation are also especially helpful.
What is an effective strategy is promoting further awareness on the support systems that students have with their academic institutions and communicating value on the utilization of these resources.
Letitia,
What a great technique. I think you sharing your knowledge and experiences in the "industry" makes all the difference in the world.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Because I teach medical coding, keeping the online students motivated can be challenging because like math, either the answer is correct or incorrect. What I do is offer several Webex tutoring sessions to walk the students through the assignments. Sometimes I use one example from a current assignment, but many times, I'll use other examples so the students understand the concepts. In addition, because I work in the industry, I give tidbits on what's going on in the industry and how it relates to where the student is today. I'll say, it's important to understand the hypertension table as many patients suffer from diseases that are either from hypertension or manifested by hypertension. Many students are responsive and there are some that are not.W
George,
What a great post. I think you make several great points. I think you make a great point by asking students why they are taking this class. I have students who choose their majors based on when classes are offered not about the classes themselves. This disturbs me.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Monique,
Your comments are the same many of us are asking. It is amazing how many students can't tell you why they are in school. They don't have a passion for what they are learning. They know they have to continue their education because they know what the DON'T want to do. I am not sure that is the best type of motivation.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Many students give away their motivation for pursuing an education away they e-mail me either in advance of grading that first project or in its aftermath that they have a high GPA and want to continue that. The implication is that the responsibility is on my shoulders for that to happen. I will accept that it is, partially, my responsibility in ensuring that the student has what they need to excel. I have found that I, too, want to “get it done†and catch myself racing through an online course to get to the next event. Students have deadlines for assignments in my online courses that I instruct, but that similar attitude prevails as many (a majority) wait to right before that deadline to “get it done.†Few get ahead on subsequent assignments. That is, they seldom complete assignments for Unit 2 while in Unit 1. The point is that “pushing†students through a course may be symptomatic of a time management issue that the student has not resolved (crashing through assignments) or extrinsic motivation to complete in order to compete. These two issues might be a good place to start in self-motivating them or intrinsically motivating where learning itself is satisfying. How do we do that? The first step is to understand where the student has been and where they are going. Pushing occurs in instances where their financial support is dependent on the performance. While it is not surprising that this might be a concern, I have seen it become an anxiety. “Why are you taking this course?†“What are you expecting to get out of it?†“How will this contribute to your education and career goals?â€
