Saturday, May 29, 2004

Tip #23: Create a motivational environment: Interest

The fifth motivational training technique is Interest. We tend to want to learn what interests us, so it is up to the instructor to select content, learning exercises, and learning environments that capture the learners' interest.

5. Interest:

Interest in the learning task has been demonstrated to affect a learner's intention to learn. The instructor can promote interest in two ways. First, the instructor can use the learners' interest in themselves. Second, the material can be made more interesting by accentuating the novel or vivid; that which is different or unexpected.

Example: Relate the material to be learned to the learners' lives. Use learners' names and examples that refer to the learners' experiences. Change the instructor's voice or position in the room, change training methods, move from instructor decisions to learner decisions, from hand-out to overhead.

Sunday, May 23, 2004

Tip #22: Create a motivational environment: Confidence

The fourth motivational training technique is Confidence. Once learners have had a successful learning experience and, based on feedback, received validation that they have been successful, they will have increased confidence in their ability to learn.

4. Confidence:

If learners are to succeed, they must believe that when they expend effort- something they completely control- they will experience success. If, however, learners believe that success or failure is the result of ability, task difficulty, or luck- factors over which they have limited control- then there is no point in putting forth a lot of effort.

Example: An instructor can instill confidence in learners by breaking a new task down and teaching each step separately, making sure that each learner has learned the first step before moving on to the next step. They also need to be given sufficient practice so that they can see that their ability and competence with the new skill or task increases.

What can you do to help your participants increase their confidence?

Tip #21: Create a motivational environment: Feedback

The third motivational training technique is Feedback. There are two ways that learners can determine if they are successful: specific constructive feedback from the instructor or their peers, as well as a personal sense of accomplishment when they are clearly able to apply newly learned skills during in-class simulations or comprehension-checking activities.

3. Feedback:

The amount, specificity and immediacy of the feedback that learners receive directly affects their performance of a newly learned skill or technique. When learners find out they are doing well, what needs to be improved, what to do to improve it, and then feel that there is a reasonable probability that they can improve it- they are motivated to try to accomplish that improvement.

Example: There are many interactive training methods that provide timely feedback to learners about how well they understand and can use new learning. For example, the instructor can give a brief lecture and then ask questions to see if the information has been understood. Individual learners can be asked to complete a questionnaire to test their learning, or to work in small groups on case studies or simulations to give them an opportunity to use their learning and then receive constructive feedback.

What can you do to ensure that your participants receive the necessary feedback? Tip #22: Create a motivational environment: Confidence

The fourth motivational training technique is Confidence. Once learners have had a successful learning experience and, based on feedback, received validation that they have been successful, they will have increased confidence in their ability to learn.

4. Confidence:

If learners are to succeed, they must believe that when they expend effort- something they completely control- they will experience success. If, however, learners believe that success or failure is the result of ability, task difficulty, or luck- factors over which they have limited control- then there is no point in putting forth a lot of effort.

Example: An instructor can instill confidence in learners by breaking a new task down and teaching each step separately, making sure that each learner has learned the first step before moving on to the next step. They also need to be given sufficient practice so that they can see that their ability and competence with the new skill or task increases.

What can you do to help your participants increase their confidence?

Wednesday, May 19, 2004

Tip #20: Create a motivational environment: Success

The second motivational training technique is Success. Since we tend to prefer activities in which we are successful, setting learners up for success can be a good way to move them from extrinsic motivation to intrinsic motivation.

2. Success: In order to feel successful, a person must expend effort and have a certain degree of uncertainty about the outcome. Learner success is responsive to two factors which the instructor controls: (1) the level of difficulty of the learning task and (2) the training design and teaching skills which will make the learners' learning more probable.

Example: Teaching basic information before teaching more complex information, presenting just a few new concepts at a time, providing sufficient practice so that a new skill becomes comfortable and familiar, are all examples of techniques that contribute to successful learning.

What else can you do to help your participants experience success?

We will explore the other motivational training techniques that help to convert extrinsic motivation into intrinsic motivation in future Tips.

Wednesday, May 12, 2004

Tip #19: Create a motivational environment.

Motivation, or the learner's intent to learn, is one of the most important factors in successful accomplishment. Dr. Madeline Hunter of UCLA has identified seven training techniques which have high potential for increasing a learner's motivation or intent to learn: (1) Extrinsic-Intrinsic Motivation; (2) Success; (3) Feedback; (4) Confidence; (5) Interest; (6) Concern; and (7) Feeling.

1. Extrinsic-Intrinsic Motivation: When a learner approaches learning as a means to achieve some result (such as a grade or certification), the learner is operating from a more extrinsic (or external) motivation. Intrinsic (or internal) motivation exists when the learner's primary goal is the satisfaction of learning itself.

Example: Someone who is ordered to attend a class has an extrinsic reason for being there. However, someone who loves learning and takes the class voluntarily has an intrinsic motivation. It is possible to create a stimulating and successful learning situation so that someone who is initially forced to attend feels good about the learning experience and voluntarily seeks it out in the future.

We will explore the other motivational training techniques that help to convert extrinsic motivation into intrinsic motivation in future Tips.

Friday, May 7, 2004

Tip #18: Provide for increasingly deeper involvement in the learning process.

Principle #6 of accelerated learning is to provide for increasingly deeper involvement in the learning process. Learning activities that move the learner through the building blocks of learning can accomplish this.

The elements in the UCLA Mastery Teaching Model developed by Dr. Madeline Hunter enable the learner to become more deeply involved and responsible for the learning result. The learner moves from reliance on the instructor, to reliance on the group, to self reliance:

  1. Input: The instructor presents the content to be learned, or draws it from the learners, possibly through their response to a focus question.

  2. Model: The instructor or a learner provides an example of the content, possibly through an analogy or a metaphor to explain the essence of what is to be taught.

  3. Check for Comprehension: The instructor asks or responds to questions.

  4. Guided/Monitored Practice: The instructor walks the group through another example so that they can participate in applying the content.

  5. Independent Group Practice: The participants work in small groups an exercise that requires them to apply the content in another example without the instructor's assistance.

  6. Independent Individual Practice: Each participant works independently to apply the content to a personally-relevant example without the assistance of the group or of the instructor.

As the instructor's direct involvement in the learning process diminishes, the learners' involvement deepens. First, the learners test their competence in the new learning with reinforcement from the group and share responsibility for the learning result. Then the learners independently apply the content and become solely responsible for the learning result.

Saturday, May 1, 2004

Tip #17: Create a joyful learning environment.

Principle #4 of accelerated learning is to create a joyful, stress-free learning environment. Playing music, organizing the room in small group seating arrangements, placing colorful pictures or kites on the walls, having koosh balls and other kinesthetic objects on the tables, using fragrant colored marking pens for table tent name cards and flip charts, providing food and beverages, with water and bowls of candy on the tables, are all physical ways to create a joyful environment.

A joyful learning environment becomes stress-free when it incorporates a variety of learning activities to meet the needs of different learning styles, ensures that audiovisuals can easily been seen and heard, structures breaks every fifty minutes or so for physical and mental revitalization, follows a curriculum design that sets the learners up to be successful, and maintains a group facilitation approach that is respectful of the learners' needs and interests.