identifying and solving motivational challenges for teachers and students in the

7/29/2019 Identifying and Solving Motivational Challenges for Teachers and Students in The

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Identifying and solving motivational challenges for teachers and students in thetransition from a traditional knowledge-transmission educational system to a

knowledge-based system

John M. Keller Professor Emeritus

Florida State University, USA

Introduction

It is inspiring to read the goals that were set forth for this conference. There can be many differentgoals for educational curricula. For example, the primary goal of a curriculum might be to preserve one’s culture by teaching its religion, ethics, and history. A curriculum can also focus on basic skills educationwhich was a primary focus with the beginning of the industrial age when the demand for literate andskilled workers grew exponentially, and it is still the dominant focus in many traditionally oriented schoolsand colleges where the focus is on the acquisition of established knowledge. However, a curriculum canalso focus on change as in the present conference which is concerned with the transition to a knowledge-based curriculum. This approach does not necessarily supplant the other approaches; it builds on them

by providing an educational system that supports the development of higher levels of human potential aswell as better meeting the needs of individuals and their society in the face of the enormous andcontinuing growth of knowledge and technologies which are far too massive to be assimilated by anygiven individual.

Developing a knowledge-based curriculum is not easy. It requires, among other things, that theteachers and students are motivated, deeply motivated, to engage in this new process. In fact, we cansay that learner and teacher motivation stands at the apex of learning and performance. Without havingappropriate kinds of motivation and the will to pursue goals, there will be little if any significantachievement in schools. This was stated dramatically by Terrel Bell, a former Secretary of Education inthe United States who said, “There are three things to emphasize in teaching: The first is motivation, thesecond is motivation, and the third is (you guessed it) motivation." And, we can expand this observation toapply to all areas of excellence in human performance.

However, there are many levels of motivation and only one of those levels will result in successfulchange. It is that the participants in the change process are intrinsically motivated; that is, people mustreally to want to make the changes. It is not enough for teachers, for example, to say, “I know I shouldchange my teaching methods,” or even to acknowledge that, “I am required to change my teachingmethods.” People have to be willing to give the new methods a fair try-out and to really want to changeover to the new teaching methods. In other words, deep seated desire is necessary.

As in any major change management process, the transition to a knowledge-based system willrequire full administrative support, but even if there is such support, there will be motivational obstacles toovercome. This presentation will describe a motivational design process, called the ARCS model, thatprovides guidance for identifying challenges and designing solutions regarding people’s motivation tochange and to learn. It has been used successfully in educational settings in many parts of the world andcan be incorporated in the present situation

This paper begins with a brief overview of some of the characteristics of knowledge-based systems,

especially in regard to teaching and learning environments, and the implications of this approach for thedesign of such systems. Next, the paper will describe the motivational design process, known as the ARCS model (2010) which provides guidance for understanding and systematically influencing people’smotivation. The third part of the paper will provide specific explanations and examples of how this processapplies in teaching and learning, and the final part describes some of the requirements of administratorsto build motivation and support for implementing this new approach.



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Knowledge-based systems and schools

Much has been written about knowledge-based systems in education, the private sector, and evenentire societies. Within a knowledge-based system, knowledge is viewed differently than in a traditionalknowledge-transmission system. In the latter, knowledge is considered to be contained within books,libraries, and the minds of the experts who are professors, teachers, and senior practitioners. Their goalis to transmit this knowledge to the younger generation by means of lectures, research assignments, and

examinations. This type of knowledge, often called explicit knowledge, consists primarily of information(the periodic table, multiplication tables, names of the geographical subdivisions of your nation) andresults in products such as exams, library research reports, and other formal assignments.

In a knowledge-based society the focus is on what may be called tacit knowledge; that is, how can weguide our students (and teachers) to become users and generators of knowledge? It includes thequestion of how can we capture the expertise and wisdom of the experts in the area that we are studying.For example, instead of just teaching science students how to conduct an experiment which generallymeans that they will learn the “scientific method” and then have them apply this method to developing aproject for a science fair, the bigger challenge is to ask how can we help them learn how scientistsactually think and proceed in their work. Advances in science, and in any other area of humanperformance, come not from the rigid application of a prescriptive process, such as the scientific method,but from creative thinking enriched by experience which leads to insight and meaningful questions to ask.

The scientific method, or any other systematic procedure, is just a tool to be used in the process of investigation.

Thus, in a knowledge-based society, knowledge is viewed as those things that people do withinformation (tacit knowledge) combined with experiences that build competence and insight in a deeper way. In a knowledge-based system students would be expected to acquire pre-requisite information andthen use it in the context of problem-solving, conducting meaningful applications in authentic learningapplications, and generating new knowledge on their own. By new knowledge we refer to the independentefforts of students to expand their own knowledge. It reflects what is meant by the expression “know -how.” For example, an accomplished senior teacher is generally able t o manage classrooms full of students, cope with unexpected and challenging problems, engage students in meaningful ways,stimulate desires to achieve, and help students feel good about their learning experience. If asked how heor she accomplished this, the teacher is typically unable to provide a full and complete explanation. Thesecomplex skills come from a depth of knowledge and experience. A challenge in a knowledge-based

system is how to both transfer this tacit knowledge to others while building the capacities of novices todevelop their own expertise.

The shift toward knowledge-based learning systems means that knowledge is viewed more as a toolthan a repository of information with a greater emphasis on the development of attitudes and skills thatenable the learners to become more self-directed and in charge of their own knowledge development.This has several implications for the design of learning environments:

Personal obligation for learning. Students must acquire “learning how to learn” skills if they do notalready have them. Also, they must be motivated to be self-directed learners.

Being able to judge the validity and utility of information. The World Wide Web contains a vastamount of information and virtually none of it has to meet any criteria for truth and validity. Anybody can post anything they wish and present it as facts or the results of research. Peopleusing the web must acquire digital literacy (Gilster 1997) which means that they have to learn

how to validate the information that they accept and use. Virtual classrooms & digital learning environments. Utilization of technology is an important

component of a knowledge-based system. Learning systems must provide these learning andorganizational structures.

Group and organizational requirements. A knowledge-based learning environment includes groupcommunications, group problem solving, and interchanges among the members of a learninggroup. Thus, it is necessary to provide these capabilities.

Instant learning and performance support: electronic performance support systems (EPSS). AnEPSS (Figure 1) is a computer-based system that provides virtually all the tools and supports thatenable a person to achieve a high level of performance. This can be a highly effective system to



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use in a knowledge-based learning environment. It provides many capabilities to the individualteacher and student, and also facilitates collaboration among people.

Figure 1: An electronic performance support system for teachers and students

In many ways teachers and students already have EPSS capabilities due to the voluminousapplications and resources that are freely available online. These environments are also called resource-based learning. But, an EPSS system is more than this. It includes an element of design to ensure that

relevant applications and tools are available for specific projects.

In summary, a knowledge-based system has the potential for providing a richly supported learningenvironment with the goal of developing higher-order knowledge and capability in regard to bothperforming complex cognitive tasks and generating one’s own knowledge and insight. But, just providingan array of technological affordances is not enough. One could ask how often available technologies suchas mobile phones, access to social media including Facebook and Twitter, and access to enormous databases are used by students to support learning and personal growth instead of recreation and socialnetworking. Probably very little. To use these tools in support of learning requires that participants behighly motivated to take advantage of this opportunity and have direction and goals in their efforts. In thenext section, a description of some of the motivational challenges faced by teachers and students isfollowed by a description of the ARCS motivational design model.

Motivational challenges and design processThe job of teaching, like the requirement of being a high performing student, contains many obstacles

to building and sustaining personal motivation. For example some of the questions asked by teachersare:

What are the critical things to know about learner motivation?

How can I determine if I have a discipline problem or a motivation problem?

How can I motivate kids when I don’t have any money for prizes and other rewards?

Can I have a real and meaningful influence on learner motivation?



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How can I find time to deal with motivation when my teaching requirements are so heavy?

What can I do when my own motivation is low?

What are some specific tactics that I can use to motivate students?

How do I decide which motivational tactics to use – intuition, personal appeal?

How can I make my class interesting and fun and still keep my high academic standards?

What do I do if I don’t have a “magnetic” personality that appeals to kids?

Students also have their lists of motivational challenges. A few examples are:

How can I be motivated when the instruction seems to be useless?

How can I stay awake and learn when the instruction is boring?

Why can’t I take classes that I want to take?

How do I overcome my fears when I am not confident about learning a given topic or task?

What do I do when I have emotional problems in my life that interfere with learning/

These are but a few of the many, many motivational obstacles that teachers and students could list.The question is, how does one respond to all of these obstacles? It would be extremely difficult to createa separate answer to each one of these obstacles as well as continue to provide answers to thepotentially endless list of other obstacles that could be identified. Fortunately, there is a process that canbe used to evaluate the primary motivational problems that teachers and students encounter and tocreate strategies for solving them. It is called the ARCS model of motivational (Keller 1987; Keller 1987; Keller 2010) and it provides a systematic, ten-step approach (Keller 1997) to designing motivationaltactics into instruction.

The ARCS model incorporates a needs assessment procedure to analyze the motivational strengthsand weaknesses (gaps) in the target audience and existing instructional materials which providesguidance for the creation of motivational objectives and measurements. It provides guidelines for creatingand selecting motivational tactics and follows a process that integrates well with instructional design andlesson planning (Keller 2000 February). The analysis of motivational needs and corresponding selectionof tactics are based on four dimensions of motivation which were derived from a synthesis of research onhuman motivation, and are known as attention (A), relevance (R), confidence (C), and satisfaction (S).These categories resulted from a holistic synthesis of motivational concepts and characteristics (Keller 1983; Keller 2010) and conducting a cluster analysis of the concepts and characteristics based onsimilarities and differences in attributes. Elaborations of the following concepts and scholarly citations can

be found in Keller (2010)The attention category incorporates research on curiosity and arousal, interest, boredom, and other

related areas such as sensation seeking These concepts illustrate the importance of incorporating avariety of tactics to gain learner attention by the use of interesting graphics and animations, visual or verbal scenarios that introduce incongruity or conflict, mystery, unresolved problems, and other techniques to stimulate a sense of inquiry in the learners. It is also important to incorporate variability inone’s approaches, because no matter how interesting a given tactic is, people will adapt to it and loseinterest over time.

Relevance refers to learners’ perceptions that the instructional requirements are consistent with their goals, compatible with their learning styles, and connected to their past experiences. A key component of relevance is goal orientation which, as demonstrated in traditional achievement motivation research hasbeen proven to facilitate motivation and achievement. Learner goals can be extrinsically motivated, asillustrated by the need to pass a course to be eligible for a desired opportunity, or intrinsically motivatedas when the learner is engaged in actions that are personally interesting and freely chosen. This conditionof intrinsic motivation is an example of self-determination leads to sustained goal-oriented behavior. Inrecent years it has been popular in the literature of constructivist psychology to refer to certain aspects of relevance as “authentic” learning experiences (Duffy, Lowyck et al. 1993). However, this is not differentfrom the long tradition in education and training that demonstrates the benefits on learning and transfer when knowledge and skills are taught in their contexts of application (Travers 1977). Other motivationalconcepts that help explain relevance are motives such as the needs for achievement, affiliation, andpower, competence, and flow.



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The third category, confidence, refers to the effects of positive expectancies for success,experiences of success, and attributions of successes to one’s own ab ilities and efforts rather than to luckor to task challenge levels that are too easy or difficult. This is accomplished by helping students establishpositive expectancies for success. Often students have low confidence because they have very littleunderstanding of what is expected of them. By making the objectives clear and providing examples of acceptable achievements, it is easier to build confidence. Another aspect of confidence is how oneattributes the causes of one’s successes or failures. Being successful in one situation can improve one’soverall confidence if the person attributes success to personal effort or ability. If the student believes thatsuccess was due to external factors such as luck, lack of challenge, or decisions of other people, thenconfidence in one’s skills is not likely to increase. This category of confidence includes some of the mostcurrently popular areas of motivational research, two of which are self-efficacy and attribution theory.

If the learners are attentive, interested in the content, and moderately challenged, then they will bemotivated to learn. But to sustain this motivation, the fourth condition of motivation is required --satisfaction. It refers to positive feelings about one's accomplishments and learning experiences. Itmeans that students receive recognition and evidence of success that support their intrinsic feelings of satisfaction and they believe they have been treated fairly. Tangible extrinsic rewards can also producesatisfaction, and they can be either substantive or symbolic. That is, they can consist of grades,privileges, promotions or such things as certificates, monogrammed school supplies, or other tokens of achievement. Opportunities to apply what one has learned coupled with personal recognition support

intrinsic feelings of satisfaction. Finally, a sense of equity, or fairness, is important. Students must feel thatthe amount of work required by the course was appropriate, that there was internal consistency betweenobjectives, content, and tests, and that there was no favoritism in grading.

These four categories provide a basis for aggregating the various concepts, theories, strategies, andtactics that pertain to the motivation to learn (Keller, J. M., 1987a). They represent the first major part of the ARCS model, which is the synthesis of the vast motivational literature into a simple and usefulnumber of macro-level concepts. They also provide the basis for the second major feature of the ARCSmodel which is the systematic design process that assists you in creating motivational tactics that matchstudent characteristics and needs (Keller, 1987b).

The ARCS model contains a ten-step design process for the development of motivational systems inwork and learning settings (Figure 2). The first two steps, which are parts of the overall analysiscomponents of the process, produce information about the status quo and provide the basis for analyzinggaps and their causes which are done in the third and fourth steps. Based on these analyses, in Step 5one prepares objectives for the performance improvement project and specifies how they will beassessed. There are then two steps in design. Step 6 consists of brainstorming within each motivationalcategory to generate a rich list of potential solutions. Step 7 is more critical and analytical for the purposeof selecting solutions that best fit the time, resource, and other constraining factors in the situation. Thefinal step includes both development and evaluation, and is similar to any other development model.

As in any systematic design process, motivational system development begins with collectinginformation (Steps 1 and 2) and analyzing it (Steps 3 and 4) to identify motivational characteristics andgaps which lead to objectives (Step 5). In this process, there are two difficulties in determining the degreeand nature of a motivational problem. First is that problems resulting in symptoms of demotivation maynot be due to motivational causes. People can become demotivated as a consequence of what is, in fact,a capability or opportunity problem. For example, people who do not have and cannot get the skillsrequired to perform satisfactorily will soon learn that they cannot succeed to a satisfactory degree. They

will develop low expectations for success, or even feelings of helplessness, and will be demotivated asevidenced by lowered levels of effort and performance. However, the cause of the problem in thisexample is lack of skills.

A Simplified Approach

This model has been applied to various types of learning environments such as classroom instruction,self-paced print, computer-based instruction, and multimedia, but these applications have been limited inscope and function. Furthermore, due to the fact that the full ten-step model can be more time consumingand detailed than is necessary in some application settings, a simplified approach was created by Suzuki



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Figure 2. Ten-step motivational design process



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(Suzuki and Keller 1996) for use in a computers in education project at junior high demonstrationschool in northern Japan. It reduces the majority of the design activities to a single matrix in which theresults of one’s analysis and design decisions can be portrayed.

In Sendai, Japan, a team of 25 teachers in 8 subject areas at Sendai Daichi Junior High School hadbeen developing computer application projects for several years as part of a demonstration projectsponsored by the Japanese national government. During the last two years of the project, they were

asked to incorporate systematic motivational design into their process. Suzuki (Suzuki & Keller, 1996)developed a simplified approach to motivational design because the full, seven-step model would requiretoo much time for training and implementation. The goal of the simplified approach was to ensure that theteachers would identify key motivational characteristics in the learners, the content area to be taught, andthe hardware or software to be used. The teachers then evaluated this information and prescribed tacticsbased on identified motivational problems. This process helped ensure that teachers avoided theinclusion of excessive numbers of tactics, or tactics derived from their own preferred areas of interestwithout regard to the characteristics of the students and the situation.

The resulting design process is represented in a matrix (Table 1). In the first row, the designer listssalient characteristics of the learners’ overall motivation to learn. The second row contains the designer’s judgments about how appealing the learning task will be to the learners. The third and fourth rows askabout learners’ expected attitudes toward the medium of instruction and the instructional materials. Eachof the entries in these rows has a “plus” or “minus” sign to indicate whether it is a positive or negative

motivational characteristic. Based on the information in these first three rows, the motivational designersdecide how much motivational support is required and what types of tactics to use. They refer toreference lists of potential tactics (Keller and Suzuki 1988; Keller and Burkman 1993) and how to createtheir own based on the identified needs.

In this example, the teacher determined that confidence is the only real problem area, and he listedsome specific things to deal with it. He also listed some specific tactics for the other categories, but theyserve to maintain motivation instead of solving a specific problem.

A benefit of his application of this process was that in his initial motivational plan, before he appliedthis process, he had a much longer list of tactics that he thought would be exciting and motivational. After doing the analysis and applying various selection criteria that are listed in the training materials onmotivational design, he realized that his list of tactics would be too time consuming, and would actuallydistract from the students’ intrinsic interest in the subject as revealed in his analysis. By using the design

process, he was able to simplify the motivational design and target it to specific needs.

An evaluation of the effectiveness of this motivational design process (Suzuki and Keller, 1996)verified that the teachers were able to use the matrix accurately with only a few entries not being placedappropriately, and more than two-thirds felt that it definitely helped them produce a more effectivemotivational design. Some teachers had difficulties with the analysis phase, which indicates that this is acritical area to address in training people to use the process.

This simplified design process was modified and used to develop a prototype of motivationallyadaptive computer-based instruction (Song 1998). The formal motivational design process requires anaudience analysis which influences which motivational tactics are included in the learning environment.However, learner motivation changes over time, and in sometimes unpredictable ways. In a classroom or other instructor-led setting, an expert instructor can continuously gauge the audience’s motivationalcondition and make adjustments as appropriate. But in self-directed learning environments, such as

computer-based instruction (CBI), this type of continuous adjustment has not been a feature. Once theinstruction has been designed and “packaged,” everyone receives the same program, with the exceptionof limited branching and other learner control options. These options can have a positive effect onmotivation, but they do not adequately reflect the range of motivational conditions that characterizelearners at different points in time.



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Table 1. ARCS simplified design matrix: Elective unit on using international e-mail

DESIGNFACTORS

ARCS CATEGORIES

Attention Relevance Confidence Satisfaction

LEARNERCHARACTERISTICS

Elective course,High interest (+)

High commitment(+)

Low skills intyping and inconversationalEnglish (-)

Newly formedgroup of students(-),

but familiar teacher (+)

LEARNING TASK

(Learners' attitudestoward)

New, attractive,adventurous (+)

-High publicinterest to theInternet (+)

-Useful in future(+)

-Limited access tocomputers (-)

-Seems difficult (-)

-First exposure (-)

-High applicability of acquired skills (+)

-Exciting outcome(+)

MEDIUM: Computer

in this lesson

(Learners' attitudestoward)

Interesting new

use as anetworking tool(+)

Familiar as a

stand alonelearning tool (+)

Unstable network

connection maymake studentsworried (-)

Immediate

feedback (+)

COURSEWARECHARACTERISTICS

(E-mail software)

English usage (-) Participatory for every students (+)

MOTIVATIONALTACTICS FOR THE

LESSON

Minimal tacticsrequired:

-Emphasizeopportunity tocommunicateworldwide

-Demonstrateimmediatetransmission andresponsefeatures


-Demonstrate howit extends one’scommunicationcapabilities

Necessary tobuild confidence:

-Set objectivescumulatively fromlow to high

-Team teachingwith an AssistantEnglish Teacher

- Use translationsoftware


Providereinforcement byreceivingmessages from“network pals”

In the CPI program, it would be possible to include a large number of motivational tactics to cover a

broad range of motivational conditions, but this would most likely have a negative effect on motivation andperformance. The reason is that when students are motivated to learn, they want to work on highly task-relevant activities. They do not want to be distracted with unnecessary motivational activities. For thisreason, the motivationally-adaptive process (Song 1998; Song and Keller 2001) was designed to sense alearner’s motivation level and respond adaptively. The amount and types of motivational strategies in thelesson were automatically adjusted based on the self-reported motivational states of the learners.



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Integration into Lesson Planning

The results of this motivational planning can be incorporated into a typical lesson plan that containsthe lesson title and objectives together with a listing of topics, instructional strategies, motivationalstrategies, resource requirements, and time estimates (see Keller, 2010 for examples). The motivationaldesign template combined with the lesson plan template has several benefits for the teacher. They allowthe teacher to

“See” the overall architecture of the lesson

Check the lesson for balance of content and activities

Easily check to see if there is variation in approach (that is, that the same pattern of instructionalor motivational techniques are not used over and over again)

Critically review the contents, instructional tactics, and motivational tactics in terms of internalconsistency and fidelity to the lesson and course objectives, and

Obtain reviews and feedback from other people who can easily review the structure and contentof the lesson.

Additional information about this model together with tools and examples for using it can be found inKeller (2010). This model is very practical and has been used in many projects and research studiesaround the world. Following are a few examples of studies that help establish the validity of the model.

Validity of the Model

As can be seen in the literature of motivational design research, the ARCS model has proven to bevalid and stable over the years and in virtually all cultures at all levels of education even though there aremany differences in the practices used to achieve them (Keller 1999; Keller 2010). More specifically, withrespect to the validity of the ARCS model, construct validity was established by the way in which theprinciples were derived from the synthesis of motivational literature and by subsequent tests of their discriminant and predictive validity. Naime-Diffenbach (Naime-Diffenbach 1991) demonstrated that if specific attributes of instructional materials related to each of the four principles are manipulatedindependently, students’ motivational reactions vary consistently with the manipulations. Specifically, sheenhanced the attention and confidence elements of a lesson that was otherwise rather neutral with regardto motivational features. She found significant results which demonstrated that the four components of motivation could be varied independently of one another. Small and Gluck (Small and Gluck 1994) tested

the perceived similarity of elements of the four categories and confirmed their categorizations.

There are many examples of empirical studies that support the validity of this model. For example,Chyung, Winiecki, and Fenner (Chyung, Winiecki et al. 1999) used the ARCS model in combination witha systematic needs assessment process to design and implement t interventions that would decrease thedropout rate in a distance learning program. Their results indicated that there were improvements in bothlearning and motivational reactions in all four motivational categories (attention, relevance, confidence,and satisfaction). Also, there was a significant reduction in the dropout rate which decreased from 44% to22%.

A study of motivation and performance in a distance learning class, by Chang & Lehman (Chang andLehman 2001) provides another example. They used the ARCS model to guide the development of a setof tactics that were designed to facilitate easy scanning of online text, reduce the word count on a screencompared to printed text, improving the quality of quizzes as a motivational tool, and incorporate more

interactive features. The investigators found a significant improvement in learner perceptions of motivation and in scores on a comprehension test.

The motivational concepts represented by the components of the model define the conditions under which students are likely to have high levels of motivation and persistence in their immediateenvironments and also have positive levels of continuing motivation (Maehr 1976) to learn more about thegiven topic. However, a limitation of these categories is that they do not, in and of themselves, explainwhat motivational tactics to use or when to use them. Both of the preceding studies used the ARCSmodel as a basis for analyzing their audiences and prescribing strategies for the motivational issues theyidentified. Thus, it is necessary to employ the motivational design process when applying the model.



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Applications of the Model

The ARCS model can be used by teachers to examine and improve their own motivation as well asthe motivation of their students. The research shows that enthusiasm is one of the characteristics of highly effective teachers. However, it is difficult if not impossible for most human beings to always feelenthusiastic about everything they do. Also, teachers usually have some topics they enjoy teaching andothers that do not greatly interest them. When the teacher is not interested in the topic, it can be very

difficult to inspire their students’ motivation to learn that content. To assist teachers in examining their own motivation and their readiness to incorporate tactics that will motivate the students, I have prepared achecklist that combines some elements from previous publications with some new elements. Thefollowing job aid (Table 2) can be used in the lesson planning phase to assist in making notes aboutmotivational attitudes and ideas. It can also be used during the process of teaching the course whenmotivational problems seem to be occurring. One could say that this process supports the knowledge-based approach by including the teacher in the self-directed approach to expanding their own knowledge.

Table 2. ARCS self-analysis and process questions

Attention Basic Questions Regarding Teacher’s Self-Assessment and Student Attitudes

Am I excited about this learning

experience and how I can make itinteresting?

Are the students going to be interested?

What tactics will stimulate their curiosityand interest?

Subcategories and Teacher’s Analysis Questions

Capture Interest (Perceptual Arousal):

What can I do to capture their interest?

Stimulate Inquiry (Inquiry Arousal):

How can I stimulate an attitude of inquiry?

Maintain Attention (Variability):

How can I use a variety of tactics to maintain their attention?

Relevance Basic Questions Regarding Teacher’s Self -Assessment and Student Attitudes

Do I believe that this learningexperience will be valuable for mystudents?

Will students believe it is valuable? Whatcan I do to help them believe it isimportant?


Relate to Goals (Goal Orientation):

How can I best meet my learner’s needs? (Do I know their needs?)

Match Interests (Motive Matching):

How and when can I provide my learners with appropriate choices, responsibilities, and influences?

Tie to Experiences (Familiarity):

How can I tie the instruction to the learners’ experiences?



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Confidence Basic Questions Regarding Teacher’s Self -Assessment and Student Attitudes

Am I confident in my ability to leadthis learning experience effectivelyand interestingly?

Will the students feel confident abouttheir ability to learn this? What do I needto do to help them be confident?


Success Expectations (Learning Requirements):

How can I assist in building a positive expectation for success?

Success Opportunities (Learning Activities):

How will the learning experience support or enhance the students’ beliefs in their competence?

Personal Responsibility (Success Attributions):

How will the learners clearly know their success is based upon their efforts and abilities?

Satisfaction Basic Questions Regarding Teacher’s Self -Assessment and Student Attitudes

Do I expect to have positive feelingsabout this learning experience?

What can I do to help the students feelgood about their experience and desireto continue learning?


Intrinsic Satisfaction (Self-Reinforcement):

How can I provide meaningful opportunities for learners to use their newly acquired knowledge/skill?

Rewarding Outcomes (Extrinsic Rewards):

What will provide reinforcement to the learners’ successes?

Fair Treatment (Equity):

How can I assist the students in anchoring a positive feeling about their accomplishments?

Having done the analysis, the next challenge is to create interesting and meaningful strategies toincorporate into your instruction. Following are three strategies as examples.

Example 1: Developing independent research skills. An important requirement for kids in aknowledge-based society is to be able to use disciplined approaches to formulating and answeringquestions; in other words, to be able to do independent research. This can be taught at an early age asevidenced by a teacher and the northeastern part of United States. As a special resource teacher shewas responsible for a group of fifth and sixth grade students who were engaged in a year-long

independent research project. The students would report to her at the learning resource center at variousintervals and there would be rather long periods of time between class sessions devoted to this project.Therefore, many learners could be expected to have serious problems with relevance and confidenceduring the year. She expected that the learners would have trouble sustaining interest in a project that didnot have immediate assignments and feedback, they may have doubts from time to time as to howimportant the project really is, and they may doubt that they can really do all the work that will be required.Therefore, the teacher used the ARCS model to develop an overall strategy with appropriate tactics tocounteract these motivational obstacles. Here are just a few examples of the many tactics (Keller, 2010)that she used:



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At the beginning of the course, show visual representations of projects completed by previousstudents. This helps stimulate curiosity and also build confidence that if other students have donethis, that they can do it, too.

Use "mini newsletters" in between class meetings to share information about project topics andprogress. This helps sustain curiosity and a sense of relevance during the semester.

Use a theme for the year that is related to an area of interest for students of this age. For

example, they wonder what is going to become of them in the future, so a theme that asks themto project themselves into the future would allow them to select topics of current interest andrelate them to the future. This supports relevance by having a personally meaningful theme thatengenders a deep level of interest.

After the students have selected topics, organize them into small groups to discuss what methodsthey will use to research their topics and how they will report the results of their research. Theywill produce a written report, but they will be encouraged to use other communications methodssuch as building a nice PowerPoint presentation, making a YouTube video, designing a game inwhich class members participate, or conducting a small drama. This incorporates all four of the ARCS dimensions by building attention, relevance, confidence by means of social support, andsatisfaction that will result from sharing the results of their work.

At the end of the semester have a celebration meeting at which students present shortdescriptions of their work, have refreshments, and receive token rewards such as or school logoitems for their work.

The first semester in which she implemented these ARCS-based tactics resulted in much lessdropout and loss of interest in the class as well as a higher level of sustained effort and better qualityproducts.

Example 2: Add games and problem-solving activities to increase the perceived relevance of alearning task. And, involve students in the lesson planning and implementation. When teaching topics thatthe students do not perceive to be relevant or useful, add activities that provide an immediate applicationof the knowledge to be learned. For example, a mathematical concept such as pi is not generallyconsidered by middle school students to be interesting or relevant to their lives. One teacher solved thisproblem by introducing a problem of interest to the students. Specifically, he asked them if they like pizza(all of them did) and then asking them how they would determine which pizzas to order if they were goingto have a party in their class; that is, which ones would be least expensive. The students suggested thatthey could simply look at the menus of several pizza parlors and choose the cheapest one. The teacher

said, "Let’s see if we can come up with a better method to determine where to get the best price on our pizzas." He then said, "We will need to use pi to determine this." Now, they were interested in learningthis concept. After teaching it he said, “Now let's apply our knowledge of using pi to determine the area of a circle to compare the prices of different pizzas. Pizzas come in different sizes from different parlors.Therefore, let's convert the size of pizzas to square centimeters and then we can compute how mucheach pizza costs per square centimeter." After obtaining the prices and diameters of pizzas from severalpizza parlors, the students were able to do the calculations and decide which pizzas to buy. The teacher planed this activity to conclude on "Pi Day" which occurs on March 14 every year. March 14, whenconverted to numerals (3.14) is equal to the value of pi. The teacher concluded the unit of work byproviding the pizzas which provided satisfaction and, in order to extend the relevance of the lessonbeyond the classroom, showing video clips of engineers and other people using pi in their calculations.

Example 3: Use social networking applications to more fully engage the students in the class andexpand beyond the classroom walls. In a recent innovation by two professors at Syracuse University(Small and Rotolo 2012 in press), students use social media to communicate with the instructor, other students, and even people outside the classroom who become interested in the topic and activities. Their approach would also be effective and appealing in middle and secondary school classrooms. Part of their motivation for incorporating Twitter was that this is an example of a social media that is having a hugeimpact on the characteristics of a knowledge-based society. At first, they used Twitter discussions duringface-to-face classroom meetings. Students were encouraged to bring their personal device of choice – laptop, smart phone or tablet – to tweet during class. Using a class-specific hashtag (hashtags are usedon Twitter to group conversations around a topic or event), students were asked to share their thoughts or questions anytime they like providing they are appropriate for the classroom context. This use of Twitter



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provides a “backchannel” discussion that augments the class with tweets which include questions,comments, and even humorous observations, that add levity. Students also share links to additionalresources related to the topic at hand which helps to build competence. She also used it in her onlineclass and it provided a useful and motivating channel of communication that helps build a sense of socialpresence as well as social networking among the students. Another benefit was that people who were noteven enrolled in the class would sometimes participate. For example, when she was describing the use of blogs by a major corporation in the USA the account manager for that blog began to participate in thediscussion as did the author of one of the books they were using and other professionals who sharedobservations and comments relative to the course discussions. This type of activity helps the studentsappreciate the content of what they were learning in the context of society and increased their interest inthe topic. It also helped them become quite sophisticated in their use of this social networking technology.In their paper, they describe ways in which they incorporated the ARCS model in the design of the use of Twitter and described some of the motivational benefits exhibited by the students.

These are but three of many examples that could be provided. The point is not to provide anexhaustive list of illustrations, but to demonstrate some ways in which teachers can expand their visionand strategies to teach in a way that supports the growth and development of knowledge-based learning.However, in order for these approaches to succeed, teachers need the support of administrators, andadministrators need to learn how to motivate their teachers to engage in these innovative activities.

How does it apply to administrators?The literature on leadership and management is huge, but there are a few basic principles that are of

key importance, especially in the context of managing professionals. Some of these principles apply tothe orderly structure and administration of an organization, but some apply more specifically to thechallenge of motivating those you lead. The principles to be highlighted here are those that foster teacher motivation and performance improvement. An important contrast that is made in much of contemporaryleadership literature and both the private sector and in schools is between what is called the "traditionalapproach" and the "transformational approach." The traditional approach is one in which the leader’sphilosophy is, "captain of my ship." This means that the leader’s primary responsibility is monitoring,controlling, maintaining distance, and delegation. These are the traditional subcategories of leadershipresponsibility. This type of leader can be highly effective in support of managing resources, providing fair and equitable treatment of people, maintaining discipline, and running what one might call a "tight ship."This type of leader typically does not interact much with the teachers because he believes that the

teachers are professionals who know how to do their jobs and he will leave them alone unless they haveproblems. This approach is also called "management by exception;" that is, the administrator only showsup when the teacher is having a problem. Despite this being an effective approach to management, in thisenvironment teachers often do not feel they are being managed as professionals.

In contrast, the transformational approach which is viewed as being the "shepherd of my flock"focuses more on inspiring, guiding, and supporting those whom one leads. In this setting, theadministrator is more actively engaged in interactions with the teacher, is aware of their challenges andaccomplishments, provides a vision for the direction of the school, helps teachers understand how their work can be brought into alignment with the vision, and feel that they are part of the school "team" thansimply an isolated professional working within the system. In this environment, teachers feel supported,rewarded, and are enthusiastic, but it requires more direct involvement from administrator which leaveshim less time for other things

These approaches can be blended and implemented depending upon the circumstances in theschool. For example, situational leadership (Hersey and Blanchard 1988) which is a tried-and-true modelspecifies that more of a traditional approach would be used with a new organization or when theorganization is undergoing substantial changes. This is because people have uncertainty about their roles, responsibilities, and incentive structures during a time of change. Traditional leadership helpsestablish sound consistent principles. At the same time, transformational leadership can be introduced asteachers become comfortable in their roles within the new system and this type of leadership can helpinspire them to become proficient and even become advocates of the new approach. Thus, in theconversion to a knowledge-based system both of these leadership styles will be appropriate.



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However, administrators will face challenges in trying to implement the change to a knowledge-basedsystem and to incorporate a leadership style that is appropriate. For example, some of the challenges theadministrator might face are how to:

Stimulate teachers’ desires to change

Provide guidance on how to fulfill new curriculum requirements

Help teachers be self-directed in changing their approaches to lesson planning and teaching

Help the teachers realize that student-centered learning is not student-controlled learning Build positive expectations for success in the teachers

Reinforce teachers for good work

The first step in bringing about change is for people to experience a "felt gap" between the way thingsare now and a better way of doing things. After describing the differences between the current systemand a more desirable approach based on a knowledge-based system to provide a formal description of the gap, the administrator can help teachers internalize this perception of a gap and embrace the newapproach by using well established management strategies that correspond to the four differentcategories of the ARCS model. Following, in the four parts of Table 3, is a synopsis of many of thesestrategies.

Table 3.: ARCS categorized leadership strategies

Attention Communicate policies, goals, and interesting events

Encourage innovation, as in multimedia development

Demonstrate enthusiasm

Relevance

Provide for goal setting, tangible accomplishments

Be visible (MBWA), model the values of teaching

Support collaborative planning

Provide opportunities for professional development (workshops, individual research)

Confidence

Replace “management by exception” with active management

Provide feedback on performance (confirmatory and corrective) Attribute successes to teachers’ efforts and ability

Acknowledge the challenges of a teacher’s tasks

Satisfaction

Give task contingent motivational feedback (praise)

Provide extrinsic rewards in accordance with teacher’s needs (when possible)

Reward curriculum improvement proposals with “bonus” resources for special projects (e.g.a small teacher- or team-controlled budget)

Maintain equity in rewarding teachers

The importance of administrators, or leaders, cannot be understated with regard to the change

management process that will support the transition to a knowledge-based system. Administrator leadership is a first priority and a necessary condition for change even if it is not a sufficient condition. Inaddition to the leader’s commitment and direction, motivational tactics such as those listed here must beemployed to energize the teachers and guide their efforts.

Conclusion

In summary, there are many important dimensions to a knowledge-based system in contrast to atraditional system and most of these characteristics will be intrinsically motivating to a great many people.However, it cannot be taken for granted that the intrinsically motivating characteristics of the knowledge-



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based system or the willingness of sufficient numbers of teachers to participate in this process willautomatically lead to a successful transition. To bring about change there must be high levels of motivation among both administrators and teachers. This paper described the ARCS model of motivationwhich provides both a conceptual foundation and a systematic design process that can be used to guidethe motivation of teachers and administrators and to assist them and developing the attitudes and skillsthat will lead to successful change.



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identifying and solving motivational challenges for teachers and students in the

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