Swiped this from my post to the PIDP 3250 Forum on Motivation (Feb 2015), moderated by Audra Spielman and Donna Reynolds:

Stephen Howie: Factors in Student Motivation

Hi Audra and Donna,

Howey (2008) provides a lot of definitions and identifies the difficulty in assessing levels of motivation.

• ‘In a study of academically prepared and under-prepared freshmen orientation students, Howey (1999) found clear motivational differences between academically prepared and under-prepared community college freshmen orientation students.’

He notes that ‘early intervention is critical to improving the success rate and retention of at-risk students.’ The article goes on to address the importance of the involvement of an advisor to orient new students through one-on-one meetings and a customized and targeted freshman seminar course.

Howey writes that the advisor relationship is likely not enough, and that strategies relevant to self-regulated learning should be employed.

This is where the instructor takes over. Can we teach self-motivation? I don’t think so. Can we activate self-motivation? Yes. We can do this every-day in our classroom by using the instructional strategies we are currently learning in 3250:

• As instructors, we set the environment and the strategies. I will create a positive, safe, learning environment with clear objectives and goals that encourage risk and exploration.
• The learners will know that the process of their learning is equally (if not more so) important than the retention of subject matter.
• I will promote learner autonomy. Characteristics of an autonomous learner include (EduTech):
  • Critical reflection and thinking
  • Self-awareness
  • Taking responsibility for own learning
  • Working creatively with complex situations
  • The ability to create own meanings and challenge ideas/theories.
• I will design instruction to engage these characteristics. PIDP3250 has moved me from an extrinsic motivation (I don’t want to work outdoors in the rain anymore, so I’m going to go teach) to the intrinsic motivation of wanting to learn, explore, understand, and truly embrace my potential role as an instructor.
• I will exercise empathy, caring and monitoring. The learner needs our attention, our feedback and assessment. I will design instruction and assessment so that we both see the learning. I will teach to the next scaffold, and remove supports as the students master each step.
• I will be clear that we are a learning community. We are each there for different reasons, but we are all there to learn.

We of course want all our students to be self-motivated. I suspect most will be. But for the ones that need some help we can be the activator, through our instructional strategies.

Roy

EduTech (2010) Learner Autonomy. Retrieved from EduTech Wikihttp://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Learner_autonomy#sthash.Q63yIP6f.dpuf

Howey, S.C. (2008). Factors in student motivation. Retrieved from the NACADA Clearinghouse of Academic Advising Resources Web site:
http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Clearinghouse/View-Articles/Motivation.aspx

On viewing ‘The Power of Introverts’ Ted Talk by Susan Cain

Objective – what did I learn?

I learned according to Susan Cain, that a ‘quiet and introverted style of being’ requiring less external stimulation, is less accepted in society, and from an early age she felt pressure to be more extraverted. She felt she had to prove herself by being bold and assertive, which were reflexive, self-negating choices that she made without even being aware of them. She explains that making these choices is what many introverts do, to the detriment of themselves, relationships, and society.

The pressure to be more extraverted is a bias that is prevalent in our western society. An introvert ‘internalizes’ this bias ‘from a very early age’. Our social institutions of school and workplace are designed mostly for extraverts, encouraging lots of stimulation. In this design, group work is a common theme. The introvert would more often rather work on their own, but must play into the bias, often quieter and seemingly less involved than their extravert companions.

An introvert is defined as a person who prefers internal stimulation, an extravert prefers external stimulation, and an ambivert is someone who falls in the middle. There is no one who is purely introverted, nor extraverted. We all fall somewhere on the spectrum between the two, and ‘recognize ourselves as one type or the other’. Because society is geared toward extraverts, we ‘culturally need a much better balance’.

Reflective – my personal reactions, internal responses, associations

            Personally, Susan Cain is preaching to the choir. I identify with her angst growing up in an extravert-centered world. I have felt the disconnection and bias in certain settings. Several times, especially when I was in the corporate world, it came up that I needed assertiveness training, and why couldn’t I be more like a salesman.

Further in her talk, Cain mentions the group dynamic, in which we instinctively mimic another’s opinions. I have caught myself doing this. In that moment, I was contributing to the progression of the conversation by simply agreeing, rather than having the time to formulate and express my thoughts and ideas. I’m fairly wise to this trait now, and watch myself, so I don’t readily agree without some reflection.

I identify myself as a mild introvert, and I can move to extravert as required. Like Cain, I will do public speaking, but not without some fear and anxiety. I actually enjoy giving thoughtful toasts, and mentoring / instructing. I don’t prefer to spend all my time alone, and I do enjoy groups and parties. But I notice that in a group or party setting, I prefer to have longer conversations with fewer people, rather than a lot of mingling and small talk.

Interpretive – Meaning, value, significance – why?

Introversion is not bad, it is not less than, it is just different. I agree it is the charismatic salesmen of our society who seem to be the ones we notice, keep an eye on, and follow, but we notice and follow quieter change-makers, too. The change-makers in our society are the people who bring their ideas forth and act on them. These people can easily be either introverts or extraverts. Cain gave a few examples of introversive change-makers, and there are definitely many whom are extraverted. Both types can be creative.

The overall theme of Cain’s talk is that introverted people are culturally oppressed, therefore operating in a culture that favors extraverted people. Cain states in an interview with Scientific American, ‘Many introverts feel there’s something wrong with them, and try to pass as extroverts. But whenever you try to pass as something you’re not, you lose a part of yourself along the way.’ How can anyone attain self-actualization if they operate with restriction?

Extraverts are more visible, so we think there are more of them. But as was reported in Psychology Today (Sept.2010): ‘According to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality test administered to two randomized national samples, introverts make up 50 percent of the U.S. population.’  Introverts can get self-sidelined in the noise and confusion of our immediacy-based society. As stated by Laurie Helgoe, PhD, in Psychology Today: ‘It’s not just that we overestimate the numbers of extraverts in our midst because they’re more salient. The bias of individuals is reinforced in the media, which emphasize the visual, the talkative, and the sound bite— immediacy over reflection.’  We want people who can answer and act immediately. No time to think about it. Helgoe also points out:

‘Introverts are collectors of thoughts, and solitude is where the collection is curated and rearranged to make sense of the present and future. Introverts can tolerate—and enjoy—projects that require long stretches of solitary activity. Extraverts often have to discipline themselves for bouts of solitary work, and then they prefer frequent social breaks.’

In her article, Helgoe references research results that show dopamine levels in extraverts rise in situations of external stimulus. They truly enjoy the environment. Introverts, on the other hand, all had ‘higher levels of electrical activity—indicating greater cortical arousal—‘ and, ‘given their higher level of brain activity and reactivity, introverts limit input from the environment in order to maintain an optimal level of arousal. Solitude, quite literally, allows introverts to hear themselves think.’

In groups, whether in learning, socially, or in the workplace, all participants – not only the introverts – are discouraged from creativity because as Cain states:

‘This is no surprise, though, if you look at the insights of contemporary psychology. It turns out that we can’t even be in a group of people without instinctively mirroring, mimicking their opinions.’

And:

‘ …  groups famously follow the opinions of the most dominant or charismatic person in the room, even though there’s zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas — I mean zero.’

Decisional – resolution to make a decision about the future.

The clear message in Cain’s talk is that introverts operate differently from extraverts. Introverts will ideally have some time and space to assemble their thoughts in a cohesive and meaningful way. This is a situational challenge in the extravert-oriented culture we have created, especially in group environments.

Being sensitive and aware of these polar traits can help me to be a better instructor. Do I dare have a session in which we explore our ‘verts’, as suggested in Cain’s Teacher’s Guide to her book The Power of Introverts. I think respectfully done, a ‘vert’-exploring session would be enlightening for all participants. It could be done privately on-line, such as the Myers-Briggs personality test, with a follow up in-class to explain the introvert / extravert dynamic, and assure the students that wherever they land in the spectrum is equally okay.

I will encourage all learners in their learning and be aware of the need for quiet thinking during a lesson. I will coach them out of their comfort zones, if only for a short time, nurturing self-monitoring as described in chapter 9 of Cain’s teacher’s guide: ‘Individuals who are adept at self-monitoring are able to change their persona to fit the demands of a given situation, even if it means going against their natural tendencies.’ Self-monitoring moves the introvert temporarily to an extravert persona, and vice-versa. It should only be practiced in situations that reflect the individual’s core beliefs.

I’m unsure about group work. I don’t think group work should be abolished, but between its mediocre ranking in John Hattie’s study Visible Learning and the evident negative effects on possibly half the class (introverts), it is low on my list of instructional strategies. I can still use it, but approach it in a modified way, especially when the group work requires creative input. I think adding a simple step to the beginning of the activity, in which the learners have time to write down their thoughts and ideas before forming into groups would help.

In summary, the teacher and learners will benefit from both the exploration of the introvert / extravert personas, and making adaptive tweaks to instruction to accommodate both types.

• Appendix 1: Crossed Signals “X” and “I” in dialogue
• Appendix 2: What Not to Say to an Introvert

References

Cain, S. The Power of Introverts Ted Talk (Feb. 2012) retrieved from:

http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts?language=en

Cook, G. The Power of Introverts: A Manifesto for Quiet Brilliance. Scientific American

(Jan. 2012) retrieved from:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-power-of-introverts/

Helgoe, L. PhD., Hutson, M. Revenge of the Introvert. Psychology Today (Sept. 2010)

retrieved from:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201008/revenge-the-introvert

Treadway, C., PhD., Treadway, D. PhD. (2011). Teacher’s Guide to The Power of

            Introverts, by Susan Cain. Retrieved from:

http://www.thepowerofintroverts.com/about-the-book/teachers-guide/

Appendix 1: Crossed Signals “X” and “I” in dialogue

Conversation between an introvert and an extravert can involve a series of misunderstandings. As the introvert struggles to follow multiple conversational threads and sort out his own thoughts, he remains quiet and appears to be just listening. The extravert reads that as engagement, a cue to keep talking. The introvert struggles with the continuing flow of input and soon starts to shut out the extravert, while nodding or smiling, or even trying to stop the exchange.

Even a simple opener of “Hello, how are you? Hey, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about X,” from anyone can challenge an introvert. Rather than bypassing the first question or interrupting the flow to answer it, the introvert holds onto the question: Hmm, how am I? (An internal dialogue begins, in which the introvert “hears” herself talking internally as the other person speaks.)

Even if the introvert responds, “I’m good,” she’s probably still reflecting on how she is: Good? That’s not quite right. I really have had a pretty crummy day, but there isn’t a quick way to explain that. She wants to first work out privately her thoughts and judgment about the day. She also may evaluate the question itself: I hate that we so often just say ‘good’ because that’s the convention. The other person doesn’t really want to know. She may even activate memories of how the question has struck her in the past.

While the introvert is evaluating the question on at least two levels (how she is feeling and what she thinks about the question, perhaps also what this says about our society), the speaker is already moving on to sharing something about his day. The introvert must take the incoming message from the speaker and tuck it into working memory until she can get to it, while more information keeps flowing in that demands tracking, sorting, searching, and critical analysis.

The cognitive load becomes increasingly difficult to manage, as the internal talk competes with the external conversation. Moreover, while trying to keep the conversation going, introverts may miss social cues, which can make them appear socially inept. The conversation is also anxiety-provoking, because the introvert feels she has too little time to share a complete thought. She hungers to pull away and give time to the thoughts her brain has generated.

—Laurie Helgoe, Ph.D. in Psychology Today (Sept.2010)

Appendix 2: What Not to Say to an Introvert

 Introverts, those quiet creatures that walk among you, are not as mild-mannered as made out to be. They seethe and even will lash out at those who encroach upon or malign their personal comfort zones. Here are a few emotional buttons to avoid with your introverted companions.

“‘Why don’t you like parties? Don’t you like people?’ is a common remark introverts hear,” says Marti Laney, a psychologist and the author of The Introvert Advantage. “Usually we like people fine,” she insists. “We just like them in small doses.” Cocktail parties can be deadly. “We’re social but it’s a different type of socializing.”

“Surprise, we’ve decided to bring the family and stay with you for the weekend.” Anyone anywhere on the -vert spectrum could find such a declaration objectionable, but it’s more likely to bring an introvert to a boil, according to Nancy Ancowitz. Introverts count on their downtime to rejuvenate their resources; an extended presence in their homes robs them of that respite.

Don’t demand immediate feedback from an introvert. “Extraverts think we have answers but just aren’t giving them,” Laney says. “They don’t understand we need time to formulate them” and often won’t talk until a thought is suitably polished.

Don’t ask introverts why they’re not contributing in meetings. If you’re holding a brainstorming session, let the introvert prepare, or encourage him to follow up with his contributions afterward.

Don’t interrupt if an introvert does get to talking. Listen closely. “Being overlooked is a really big issue for introverts,” Laney says. Introverts are unlikely to repeat themselves; they will not risk making the same mistake twice.

Above all, “we hate people telling us how we can be more extraverted, as if that’s the desired state,” says Beth Buelow, a life and leadership coach for introverts. Many introverts are happy with the way they are. And if you’re not, that’s your problem.

—Matthew Hutson in Psychology Today (Sept.2010)

Moderating a Forum

This week I am moderating a discussion forum on Visible Learning, for my PIDP 3250 Instructional Strategies class.

As moderator, I think it is my role to encourage participants to engage in the discussion, so that they are compelled to research the topic to discover meaning. I also think it is my role to seek answers to their questions, while learning about the topic myself.

I know nothing about visible learning, and never heard of it until this forum was assigned. This may be the reason I chose the topic, because I had no history with it, and I have the opportunity to connect my existing knowledge to something entirely new.

Researching visible learning, I found little of value other than short definitions of the concept, and many references to work done by a research team headed by John Hattie, resulting in a book titled Visible Learning. Other books have followed.

I took the bait, and bought the book Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning, by John Hattie.

I’ve gone through the book, some skimming, some focused reading, stopping on passages and content that rings true to what I’m learning in PIDP, and to my recently acquired basic knowledge of visible learning.

I think the message is simple. As teachers, we must know our impact on learning. Although it took 20 years of research to empirically classify data, resulting in a table of influences on learning, the book could have been written without it.

Where the data is helpful to the discussion forum is in the tangents we can explore. A few prickly points have already come up:

• Class size – small influence on learning
• Teacher knowledge of subject matter – small influence
• Evaluation and Assessment – big influence

On day three I started a new thread on teacher subject matter, and will create another on assessment.

The first two days of the discussion were particularly stressful. As I described to our instructor, I had launched my boat into the water, put out some lines with different baits, but I had not yet hooked any participants, or even found the current. He advised, that like fishing, I may have to change spots, change bait, and overall, be patient.

Now it is day four. There have been some nibbles and strikes. I feel anxious, my task is to help the participants learn, and when the discussion is over, to retain some value. I am keenly aware I am a novice as a moderator. I will support participant aha’s with feedback and quotes from the book mentioned above, seek and share other resources, provide open-ended questions in new threads, and overall, try to keep my boat in the current.

When I was in Saskatchewan for the month of January, I helped my 12 yo niece put together a short video assignment on humor for her English class. It was at that time I reviewed the several available formats, and chose PowToon – which seemed more like an enhanced slideshow than a video. The appeal of this format was the straightforward interaction tools, and the tutorials. So we bought PowToon’s education subscription for $1 a month, which opened up a few extra bells and whistles. Actually, I didn’t get to help other than showing her how to get into PowToon, she took over from there. Kids these days and their open ease with technology.

I looked at the example of Connected Communities in Student Engagement Techniques, then went off exploring for supporting resources. As I researched, it became apparent to me there was much more to connected communities, and that technology in this realm is highly influential.

I chose to feature learning communities, and connected learning. PowToon suggested I write a 250 word script, then time it, to judge the overall length of the video. So away I went. My first script came in at eleven minutes (almost 500 words) … lots of editing … making points more concise … discarding embellishment. As others have posted, it was a challenge to keep my script within the 5 minutes, and still deliver the content in a clear progression.

By this time I’m about 12 hours into the task. I’m nervous about spending too much time on the script, leaving me less time for production. Yet I feel motivated, and have a sense of accomplishment, that I’ve really nailed the script – that it clearly reflects what I hope to feature in the video. And that in the worst case scenario, I don’t have enough production time, and I simply video myself, or do a quick power point.

I want to soldier on with the video, for a few reasons. First, I like detail, and I feel accomplishment when I get things ‘just right’. Second, I know I’ve under-performed in supporting others in the forum, and in posting to my blog, so I need this project to be my best work. I see my classmates posting extremely good work, repeatedly. I need to show myself I can do it. I want it to be a hinge-point to pull me off the shoulder and back onto the road.

When I watch a presentation, I like to see points emphasized with either a related graphic, or the presenter’s words repeated on the screen. To me this reinforces what is being said. If the words on the screen are different than the presenter’s words, my mind goes in two directions – I’m trying to listen to a spoken sentence, while attempting to read a different one. Instant confusion – I wind up missing both sentences.

So as I began assembling the production, I focused on emphasizing the points in my script. It actually came together fairly easy, although each step required several mini-steps: finding graphics and documenting credits, choosing how the graphics and text are placed on the screen and in the timeline of the script. Many adjustments to get the timing right. About six hours later (a minute and a half into the video), I could see I was making more productive decisions.

Aaaaaah. There is hope. I feel I’m getting it. Putting together the remaining 210 seconds takes the same amount of time as the first 90 seconds. So in all, 24 hours to write, edit, and produce a 5 minute production. Likely no Hollywood record. But I’ve learned a valuable process and skills that will help me in future presentations.

Quoted from Dr. Richard Curwin’s article in the Edutopia blog, October 2014:

9 Ways to Teach With Mistakes

“The problem for students is not that they make mistakes. The real problem is that teachers don’t use those mistakes to allow and promote learning. Because shame is currently attached to mistakes, students are afraid to take chances, explore, and think for themselves. As a clear example of how damaging this view can be, look at the makeup of most gifted and talented programs. In far too many schools, the students in these classes are not the most creative risk takers or unique thinkers. They are the students who scored the highest on standardized tests. Therefore, we label as gifted or talented the students who make the fewest mistakes. I believe that it’s a mistake to think of mistakes as something bad. When mistakes become learning opportunities, everything changes. Students take more risks, think in new ways, cheat less, and solve mysteries that had previously eluded them.

Here are some things that we can do in the classroom to change this defeating way of thinking, including both formal and informal evaluation processes:

1. Stop marking errors on tests and papers without explaining why they’re wrong. Give enough explanation to help your student understand what went wrong and how to fix it. A big red X is insufficient.
2. Give students a chance to correct their mistakes and redo their work. This allows mistakes to become learning opportunities.
3. Improvement must become a significant factor in the evaluation process. The more a student improves, the higher his or her grade. Nothing shows learning from mistakes more than improvement.
4. When a student makes a mistake in a class discussion, don’t say things like, “No, wrong, can anyone help him?” Don’t just call on someone else without further comment. Instead, ask the student, “Why do you think so? Can you give an example? If you could ask yourself a question about your answer, what would it be?”
5. My friend and colleague, Madeline Hunter, suggested starting with what is right. If a teacher asks, “Who was the first president of the United States?” and a student answers, “Barack Obama,” instead of saying, “You’re wrong,” try saying, “Barack Obama is a president, you’re right about that. However, he wasn’t the first. Let’s go further back in history.” Even silly answers can be responded to in this way.
6. If a student needs help with an answer, let him or her choose a classmate to help. Call the helper something like a “personal consultant.”
7. Instead of (or at least in addition to) walls filled with students’ achievements, have a wall where students can brag about their biggest mistakes and what they learned from them.
8. Have biweekly class meetings where students share a mistake they made, what happened after, and what they learned.
9. Be sure to tell the class about your own mistakes, especially if they are funny, and what you learned from them.

I would love to see a sign on every entrance to every school that says, “Everyone who enters here will learn.” Learning means not being afraid to examine mistakes that teachers make and encouraging students to think in ways that might produce mistakes. Use all these mistakes to learn from, to improve, and to feel good about individual progress.”

Curwin, R. (2014) It’s a Mistake Not to Use Mistakes as Part of the Learning Process. Edutopia blog. Retrieved from: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/use-mistakes-in-learning-process-richard-curwin

What is Metacognition?
I think it is insight…. That is: in(wardly directed) vision.
It is -thinking about my thinking,
-thinking about my logic,
-thinking about my strategies,
-thinking about my attitudes and behaviors …
-using this cognition to think, plan, assess, perceive..
As opposed to supervision – managing and regulating others – I think metacognition is the process of insight required to manage and regulate myself.
Case in point: the PIDP process!
I wish to teach, so here I am. The tools and knowledge I bring with me slot in nicely with some of the learning, but often do not seem to fit at all. I’ve learned to reflect and assess, so I am able to determine how deep within each topic I must dive to find a common link to my existing knowledge. In some cases its all the way to the bottom, where I begin constructing the new topical island (pun intended), eventually emerging amongst all the other islands … topics link, so I now have bridges and causeways .. sometimes they meld and I have a new landmass.
In learning to learn, I see that there is no single logic for me. I value my ability to assess my current knowledge, to adapt strategies to link my existing knowledge to new topics, to link the topics where appropriate, and to value alternate points of view.
These are all good things to nurture in our students to help their metacognitive development: self-assessment, reflection, planning, and perception.
Roy

Motivation is the drive we experience to get things done. It can be from outside sources (extrinsic) such as a requirement to get a job or a promotion, or from within (intrinsic), such as a desire to learn more about a personally relevant subject, or the pursuit of self-actualization; to be all that we can be.

I teach apprentices in the field, and have not taught in a formal classroom setting. But even in the field, I see their motivations are a combination of both extrinsic and intrinsic. As a company, we offer raises for each successful level achieved within the apprenticeship program (there are four). A bigger paycheque is definitely an extrinsic motivator. When I see the light in their eyes when they connect a concept or theory to practice, they want to learn more. This is a step in self-actualization, and the desire to learn more is an intrinsic motivator.

I wish I had real classroom experience under my belt, so I could compare and contrast how I might see motivation in the classroom – what I can do to motivate the learners, and what they are doing as well.

In learning about how I can help motivate my students, I found the following tips at Big Dog’s website, showing John Keller’s ARCS model of motivational design:
A – ATTENTION grab their attention, stimulate curiosity
R – RELEVANCE make it relevant, link to existing knowledge
C – CONFIDENCE clear objectives / feedback raises their confidence
S – SATISFACTION use the new knowledge or skill
The website provides further explanations of each of these points.