Motivation

Each semester there are students who don’t do well in our classes, no matter how hard we try to reach everyone.  Are these underperforming students, in your view, unable to learn the content or unmotivated to learn it (or some combination of both)? The following three articles address the motivation issue from different perspectives.

The first uses Deci and Ryan’s self-determination theory, which says that three basic psychological needs affect motivation: 

• autonomy, 
• competence, and 
• relatedness. 

In it, Kelly gives suggestions for how to encourage autonomy, such as giving students choices over topics, content, or weight of grades for various projects.

In the second, Orlando focuses on the potential hazards of praising a student, arguing that praise can undermine rather than enhance performance and self-esteem because it leads the student recipients to believe that their intelligence is fixed, and thus not something that they can influence through action or effort (Carol Dweck’s concept of fixed vs. growth mindsets with respect to intelligence.) He argues that we need to praise students for their effort (“you have clearly put a lot of time and thought into this project and it shows”) and for their process (“I was impressed with your choice of research articles”)  and that we should focus on giving positive feedback (“here’s what you did well”) not praise (“this is a great paper.”)

The third discusses intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation, offering nine strategies to move students from working to earn a passing grade to working because of love of subject, reminding us that students don’t move to higher-level thinking until lower-level needs are met.  In addition to creating a safe and supportive environment in our classrooms so as to meet students’ basic needs, Battista and Ruble remind us of the importance of  building activities into our courses that require students to draw on past experiences, share their learning expectations and goals, and reflect frequently on their performance to date and what they need to do to improve it.  They argue, “It is through the student's sense of accomplishment and vision for the future that intrinsic motivation is born. An approachable instructor can be the inspiration for this change in the student's mindset.”

How important do you see your role as motivator?  What has worked, or not worked, for you in this area?

In Praise of HBCUs

A recent article on the Fisher case currently before the Supreme Court to determine the legality of college affirmative action admissions guidelines responds eloquently to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts’ questioning of the value of diversity and “why the U.S. needs more Black physicists.”  (Thanks to Neal Carlson for bringing the article to my attention.) 

Dr. M. Christopher Brown II, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs for the Southern University system, reminded Justice Roberts that “many of the best scientific discoveries and inventions emerge from the lived experiences of [those who] are transgressive outliers from the general norm.” 

Dr. Lisa Aponte-Soto, national program deputy director of New Connections, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation program that works to increase opportunities for early and midcareer scholars of color in STEM fields, agreed, pointing out that scientists of color “add a sensitivity to the ‘impact of cultural values’ on the application of science… that is critical to the effectiveness and accuracy of outcomes.”

What caught my eye as a teacher was a follow-up assertion by Dr. Aponte-Soto that “faculty of color tend to encourage more student input, which enhances the students’ connection to the material.” What are we doing at Lincoln that shows this teaching/learning principle in action, in our STEM courses in particular, but also in all the other disciplines?  How do you encourage more student input in your course, helping your students to try on the shoes of the experts and get excited about walking in that path?  Can you share an example that has worked well in your classes, whether physics or philosophy, mathematics or mass communication?

An Engaging and Exhilarating Introductory Activity

by Guest Blogger Malcolm Bonner

Years ago, as Director of The University of Pennsylvania McNair Scholars Program, I invited Dr. Mary Heiberger from Penn’s Counseling Department to make a presentation to our McNair scholars. Dr. Heiberger opened with a unique and engaging introductory exercise thatI continue to employ on the first day of class. (Dr. Mary Heiberger departed this life in November 2003.)

After students have settled in and you have taken roll, assign (or have students choose) partners. Students should be prepared with pens and notebooks. Show instructions on the Smart Board or blackboard:

Please interview your partner in order to glean information which will allow you to introduce your partner as the Keynote Speaker at a (relevant) National Conference Ten Years from Now.

I have found it useful to make it clear that the activity is an interview process; much of the richness is lost if students scribble their own information and push it across the desk at their partners and say “read this.” Some of the information will be factual; a good deal will be flights of optimistic fancy.  I usually do a brief demonstration with a student, which could proceed thusly:

“Good Afternoon. Welcome to the 2025 National Conference for Family Professionals in sunny Orlando, Florida. I am honored to introduce our Keynote Speaker for this evening, Dr. Bill Blank. Dr. Blank earned his BA at Lincoln University in 2017, went on to earn his Master of Human Services Degree at Lincoln in 2019, and earned a Doctor of Human Services degree at William and Mary in 2022. Dr. Blank has established Family First, a network of counseling services and family therapy centers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He is the author of Love is the Answer (2024), which was on the New York Times Bestseller List for 67 consecutive weeks. He was named Time Magazine Man of the Year, and has been prominently mentioned as a candidate for a Cabinet post in the administration of President Elton Brand. Please join me in welcoming Dr. Bill Blank.”

Following the demonstration, the student returns to interview and be interviewed by a partner. Once each pair has completed interviews, I call the class to order and the first pair of presenters to the front of the class. I have found it important to emphasize that each student is to be given “our most courteous, most rapt, and completely undivided attention” while speaking. I remind students that it is not crucial to have introductions written perfectly; since the future remains unknown, presenters can ad lib and have fun. Some students will be more relaxed and confident than others. It is probably better to permit the occasional stumble, and allow the process to flow as it will. Inevitably, one or two pairs of presenters will generate raucous laughter and much applause.

What has been consistently gratifying has been watching the beaming faces and proud postures of students as wonderful statements are made about their achievements – real and projected.  The interviews and introductions help students to learn about one another, and set a positive and energetic tone for the class.

Those Important First Five Minutes

If you missed “Small Changes in Teaching: The First 5 Minutes of Class” in last week’s Chronicle of Higher Education, it’s worth checking out.  In the article, James Lang argues that rather than using up the first part of class with logistics (taking attendance, getting technology up and running, etc.) we should use that time to focus students’ attention and get them ready for learning.  He offers four suggestions:

1. Open with a question or two that today’s class will answer (and perhaps return to that question at the end so that students can see how their understanding has changed);
2. Have students talk about what went on in your last class (asking them to retrieve information places it more firmly in long-term memory);
3. Reactivate what students learned in previous courses by asking them what they already know, or think they know, about the day’s topic (so that what you add can be fitted into their existing knowledge structure more easily);
4. Have students write for 3 – 5 minutes on a question of your choosing (such as any recommended in items 1 - 3).

Lang claims that these kinds of short activities have major payoffs for students in terms of increased motivation, memory, and engagement.  Furthermore, they help teachers understand where students are at any given point, so that class instruction can be appropriately challenging, filling in foundational knowledge as needed and correcting any misconceptions that may be present.

I typically start by posting a list of the class objectives on the smartboard and asking if anyone has questions or additions, but my new year’s resolution, since reading this article, is to add at least one general discussion question to that list so that students know right from the start that they’ll be doing more than just listening passively to what I decided they should learn.

How about you?  I’d be interested in hearing what techniques you use to start your classes.  Any suggestions to share?

Dragged Kicking and Screaming into Social Media

Full disclaimer:   I do have a FaceBook page (that I check a couple times a year…) but beyond that I admit that I pretty much limit my web-based communication to email. I’ve never felt compelled to “tweet” anything (which for all I know is now so yesterday, anyway) or use whatever else may be the flavor of the day in the apps world.

This semester, though, one of my students on the first day of class asked if he could collect everyone’s cell phone number to set up a “Group Me” class chat.  A bit reluctantly, I gave my cell phone number and waited to see what would happen.

Not surprisingly, I got a lot of “how u doin” and “boy Im tired” types of messages, ones that I just glanced at and hit Delete.  But gradually I began to see a real purpose.  One obvious use is as a place where a student can ask a general class-related question and I can answer right away, so that others don’t have to ask the same question.  (While I was typing this, a student texted to ask if Moodle was down and I let her and others know that it was fine at Lincoln’s end, while another student suggested a workaround.)   

Perhaps even more importantly, though, I think it’s a motivational tool.  Early this morning I was getting ready to head to campus when one student texted, “Good morning, wonderful people.”  A few class members chimed in with similar greetings.  While I was too busy getting things together so I could get on the road to write anything, I drove to school musing about how nice it was to have students thinking positively about class and classmates first thing in the morning and thinking that it would be an interesting research project to see if class satisfaction and course completion/persistence correlate at all with that sort of casual media use.

Do any of you have examples of constructive use of social media, whether formally for instruction or informally?   While I may be too old to use them, I’m still young enough to be curious!