Designing for Motivation & Learning Environments

Motivation

Dirksen chapters 8 & 9 and Ambrose chapter 3 & 6 talk about the importance of designing for motivation and different learning environments. These are two things that are sometimes overlooked when putting together learning and educational experiences, however they are so vital for engaging and sustaining learning and changing behaviors. Dirksen and Ambrose come from different contexts, but both provide great strategies for designing for different learning contexts.

Dirksen makes an important distinction between motivation, first there is helping learners want to learn and second is to motivate learners to change their behavior. The second type of motivation is often the goal for organizations and institutions. It is the type of motivation that leads to innovation and transfer of the different types of knowledge acquired through learning experiences. There is often a disconnect between knowing and doing. Dirksen gives an example of texting and driving, most people know they shouldn’t do it, however many still engage in this risky dangerous behavior. Dirksen provides strategies for helping learners change their behavior.

• Relative Advantage: provide a way for the learner to see how their behavior makes an impact relative to what they were doing before.
• Compatibility: have learners engage in the behavior in context and see how easy or difficult it is to implement.
• Complexity: breakdown the complexity of the task for the learner. Ask if there are any steps the can be reduced?
• Observability: can the learner observe the task while it is happening? This might be a great way for them to see the task in action.
• Trialability: Is there an environment where the leaner can practice the behavior?

Other things that are important for changing behaviors is self-efficacy, social proof, and taking the visceral into account. Creating an environment where learners believe they can actually change is important. Social proof is also important, if people see and hear of other people’s success they are more likely to change their behavior. People are situated within their own experiences and emotions, so using visceral strategies may help learners imagine different consequences of their behaviors.

Ambrose chapter 3 talks in detail about student’s motivation and how that guides behavior. An important thing to understand is that teachers and learning designers will not be motivated by the same things as their learners. Thinking exhaustively about the different ways people can be motivated is important for engaging and sustaining motivation. Values and expectancies play and important role in motivation. Below is the motivation model described in How Learning Works.

Environment

Dirksen talks about the importance of creating learning environments that make it easier for learners to engage and practice their knowledge. For example, providing job aids can provide learners with scaffolding and appropriate information for their job. Dirksen provides key design strategies for looking at learning and working environments.

• Supply caching: information placed in close proximity to the actual behavior i.e. keyboard shortcuts.
• Prompts and Triggers: not just telling the learning not to do something, but providing and alternate action.
• Putting Behaviors in the World: look at the context and see how you can simplify action or knowledge.
• Clear the Path: can you make the process simpler? can you make the system better? what are the barriers to success?
• Big question: What are things you can do (besides training) that will help learners succeed?

Ambrose looks at the social and emotional context of learning environments. There are two things that learning designers must take into account, the development of students and the classroom climate. Learners are not merely intellectual beings, but they also develop socially and emotionally. Some strategies that Ambrose suggests is to design environments where learners feel safe to fail, where learners are encouraged to look at things from different perspectives, and where learners do not see things as absolutely right or wrong, but be able to see the different values, contexts, and viewpoints.

Overall motivation and the learning environment is crucial for learning and changing behaviors. Leveraging these two things can greatly enhance transfer.