understanding motivation what is motivation?. student motivation in the college classroom what...
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Student Motivation in the College Classroom
What factors influence it?
Sociocultural Context
Classroom Environmental Factors
Internal Factors (Beliefs/Perceptions)
Motivated Behavior
Understanding Your Own Motivation
Evaluate your behaviors in three areas:– Choice of behavior– Level of activity and involvement– Persistence and management of effort
Sociocultural Context
Cultural Factors can influence your motivation
Attitudes, beliefs, and experiences you bring to
college based on your sociocultural experiences that
influence motivation and behaviors.
Internal Factors
Goals you set:– Serve to Motivate Behavior– Affect Mastery and Performance
Ask yourself, what are my goals?Are they defined goals in Long and Short Terms?
Are they clear and well defined?
Are they set goals different life areas?
5 Major Ways Goals Enhance Your Performance
Effort Duration and Persistence Direction of Attention Strategic Planning Reference Point
Effects on Effort
Goals setting influences what you do and how hard you maximize your performance
The more difficult the goal—the harder you work towards attaining it.
Effects on Duration or Persistence
Without goals, it easy to be – Distracted– Attention drifts– More easily interrupted– Stop work without task completion
With goals, you have defined point of performance– Know when to quit the task
Effects on Attention
Goals direct your attention toward the task
Goals direct you attention away from distractions
Strategic Planning
To accomplish a goal, you need– An action plan or strategic planning– Goal setting encourages strategic planning and
helps determine how you proceed
Reference Point
Identifies where you are headed Allows you to receive feedback from that point Determines any further actions that need taken
Two Types of Goals
Mastery Goals
Oriented toward learning as much as possible
Performance Goals
Focuses on comparison and competition
Success defined as…
Improvement, progress, creativity
High grades, high performance compared to others
Value placed on…
Effort, academic ventures
Demonstrates high performance relative to effort
Basis for satisfaction…
Progress, challenge,mastery
Doing better that others
Error viewed as…
Part of the learning process, informational
Failure, evidence of lack of ability
Ability viewed as…
Developing through effort
Fixed
Mastery Performance
How do you value different academic courses and tasks?
Values and Interest – Play an important role on academic behaviors– Affect student activities– Affect level of persistence– Affect student choices
Can You Do Well on Different Academic Tasks?
Self-Efficacy plays an important role– How you evaluate your own abilities or skills to
successfully complete a task
Rating your self-efficacy– A rating too high or too low can be detrimental
Causes of Successes and Failures
Discuss
How can a “C” grade on two individual term papers be interpreted as both a success and a failure?
Why the two different responses?
Goals
Attribution Explains why people respond differently to outcomes.
Perception about the cause of success and failure
differ
How students perceive prior successes and failures is an important determiner of how they approach their next tasks.
Rate the Responses as Positive or Negative
I did well because I’m smart.
I studied hard for the test, but it wasn’t enough.
The test was easy.
I was lucky.
The professor was fair.
I did poorly because I’m stupid.
I studied hard for the test but still did not get it.
The test was hard.
I was unlucky.
The professor was unfair.
I was tired.
Respond to these questions
When I perform poorly, do I attribute my performance to uncontrollable factors?
Are there alternative explanations for the causes of my academic performances?
Negative Impacts on Performance
Boredom
– It is not a reason—it is an excuse!!!– Often implies that the learner does not understand
the material
Negative Impacts on Performance
Anxiety– Can negatively impact performance 4 ways:
Disruption in mental activity Psychological distress Misdirected attention Inappropriate behaviors
Negative Impacts on Performance
Worrying can be a major factor– Has a strong negative impact academic
performance– Negative beliefs– Troubling thoughts– Poor decisions
Negative Impacts on Performance
Psychological distress– Emotionality– This seems to diminish after a test begins; whereas,
worry continues
Covington’s Theory of Self-Worth
Strategies that protect against inferences on an individual’s lack of ability
Procrastination
Unattainable Goals
Underachievers
Anxiety
In Class Exercise
Attribution Suggested Responses
I lack ability.
I didn’t feel well.
I wasn’t in the mood.
I’m not interested in the task
I don’t do well on tests.
The material was boring.
The test was unfair.
Assignment
Select two (2) different courses you are currently taking—one difficult and one less challenging or one that you like and one that you don’t like. Analyze your motivation in the
two classes by discussing IN DETAIL each of the following factors that determine your motivated behaviors.
Use a graph like the example that follows: