Motivated to Learn

I am a geek and I have no fear when playing with new technology. Sometimes I get ahead of myself when trying to help others embrace a program or application because they do not feel like they can “be wrong” or that their actions might break the internet…seriously. I have led several workshops on a variety of topics and the common attitude is one of apprehension. Teachers are willing to learn novel ideas as long as the information is relevant to their goals both professionally and personally.

For instance, I had a group of about ten teachers and some office staff in training on Excel. The training was voluntary, but I still had participants that were not comfortable sending email attachments. I did not try to sustain their attention for more than three minutes at a time, because I knew that showing them the features were not as important as having them use the program and think of how to use it in the classroom. I gave them all some sample data to play with and acted more as a facilitator as I circulated the computer lab. Pretty soon, I could hear squeals of excitement (literally) from teachers as they discovered how Excel could make their work so much easier. Also, teaching technology conceptually helped them to understand which tool to select for which job, i.e. “Excel is not just for making class lists.”

Now, if I had sat them all in a conference room and read a presentation with screen shots, I do not think that I would have had the same outcome. Keller’s Model of Motivation is a good set of guidelines for helping learners adopt technology. I have used elements of the ARCS model without knowing that I was doing so! In reflection, it seems like common sense or good teaching practice that can sometimes be overlooked.
If you sustain the Attention of a learner by allowing them the opportunity to play with the tech more than you talk about it they will become more comfortable and less intimidated. Make the tech Relevant to their personal or professional goals by introducing tools that will make teaching easier. Explicitly demonstrate how the technology will help the learner achieve their goals.
Then, build the learner’s Confidence through small, achievable tasks, like adding color to a cell in Excel. Confidence can also be gained by having clear objectives about what the student should be able to do by the end of the training. Finally, in all of my training I have teachers do a follow up activity or visit their class to see how they are incorporating Excel into their class.
The Satisfaction component of Keller’s model seems elusive, but can be achieved through awarding points for professional development or as simple as a teacher saving time by using technology.