Balance and the Development of Intrinsic Motivation

Recently, I've been thinking a lot about motivation and putting excitement into learning. It isn't enough anymore to simply show students that we're thrilled about the content we're teaching; we have to be willing to take every opportunity to build up their confidence and support their development of intrinsic motivation.

So how do we start this process?

I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that we, as educators, have to learn to walk a fine line. My mentor teacher mentioned this week that being an educator is difficult, because there needs to be a balance. For example, in terms of management, rules need to be established early and reinforced consistently (and fairly). If we fall too far from the center of the spectrum, students will either find us too soft or too controlling. If our students can't trust us to help maintain a positive environment that is conducive to learning, they will be far less willing to participate.

We, as educators, have to learn to walk a fine line.

We have to discover the balance of our classroom, which is not an easy process. Every classroom is bound to be different. Because of differences, the teacher must invest more time discovering students' personalities, interests, and work habits. This means that the teacher needs to figure out ways to have meaningful communication, one-on-one, with every student, especially students who are deemed "problematic." Perhaps one suggestion might be to section off a private conference area for students and hold individual conferences early in the semester. I believe that early conferences have potential to be extremely useful: a teacher can ask a student to outline his goals for the class, address concerns privately before instruction starts to roll, and simply get to know the student on a personal level. The better we know our students and their goals, the more likely we will be able to discover the "flow" of a classroom.

The concept of "flow" is perfectly highlighted and explained in a recent on-line article I read called "The Seven Tricks Everyone Can Learn from Game Designers" on VentureBeat. Dr. Amy Kim explains that there are concepts from games that are aligned perfectly with learning. Take a few moments to sift through her slide show:

Beyond Gamification: 7 Core Concepts for Creating Compelling Products

View more presentations from Amy Kim

The sixth trick discussed in both the article and slide show is finding the "flow channel":

"As players progress, increase the challenge and complexity. This is called 'flow' in game play, where you try to keep the player interested in the experience, balancing between anxiety and boredom. You have to keep the gamer in the middle, or the flow channel. You can do this with progressive quests, which give you more tasks to do once you’ve leveled up in games like CityVille [Mr. G's note: a popular game on Facebook]. You can make the user interface more complex after someone masters the game and give the users new tools when they are ready for them."

Gaming is extremely adaptable as a metaphor for the classroom. Once we have discovered the "flow" of a classroom, we need to be able to challenge students consistently enough to make learning applicable and meaningful, while also allowing downtime activities for them to simply have fun, create, and imagine. As the flow dictates, if we're always under pressure, burnout will be much higher, but if there isn't enough challenge, students will become bored and unmotivated to participate in activities.

I think a lot of the problem after determining balance and keeping students engaged is the need for varied instruction. As mentioned in a prior blog, one question we should always be asking ourselves is: "Would I want to participate in this lesson?" If we, ourselves, can't stay awake during our own class periods, something needs to change! This requires that teachers need to make an effort to read and research, communicate with colleagues, and not be afraid to apply new methodology on our classrooms if something isn't working.

So if we're able to develop a classroom that is conducive to learning and is a safe, effective environment, how do we set our students up for success? How do we build a positive mind-frame?

The article above states that "you can get your user to complete tasks by stirring their intrinsic motivations that deliver real value to players." In other words, we have to make content applicable. Educators must be able to hunt for and provide resources for students that extend learning into the now-global community. They want experiences that will help quell fears of failure and encouragement to do better. In terms of teens, I'm willing to bet that social accomplishments are high intrinsic motivators.

This, in my opinion, is the most difficult problem we will face in the future. It doesn't mean making tasks easier by dumbing down curriculum in an effort to give students "warm fuzzies." It means that we need to shift their -- and our own -- attitudes towards education, learning, and knowledge.

This step will take time.

A lot of time.

And plenty of patience.

And empathy.

But if we don't start somewhere and act now, how will our students ever reach their fullest potential?

-Mr. G

Image courtesy of kevint3141.