Putting motivation theory into practice

Svinicki and McKeachie (2011) propose principles which can be used to structure classes that foster student motivation to learn. For example:

1. When planning assignments, consider issues of choice and control. If you would like students to write two papers during the term, provide assignments during three time periods and let them choose which two to complete. This enables students to take charge of planning their work in the context of requirements from other courses and allows them to select issues of greatest interest.
2. Project your own motivation - for the subject matter and for the students. Take opportunities to describe your own intrinsic motivation for both research and teaching and your mastery orientation to learning.
3. Foster students’ intrinsic motivation to attend class by being well prepared, making lectures and discussion interesting, varying the instructional format, inducing cognitive dissonance and stimulating thought, and adding interactive elements where appropriate. Students are more motivated to come to class when the learning experience exceeds what can be copied from another’s notes.
4. Foster mastery by encouraging students to revise their writing. Although it might not be reasonable for you to read drafts of every paper, you might do this for the first written assignment and then create peer review groups for additional papers. Or you can vary this process by responding to outlines for one paper and then reading drafts of opening paragraphs for the second.
5. Adopt a criterion-referenced approach to grading rather than a normative one. Outline course requirements so that the point value for each assignment is clear from the beginning and students know what they need to do to succeed – and know that they can succeed without worrying about their standing relative to others in the course. This fosters a sense of control, creates a cooperative rather than a competitive climate and appeals to both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated students.
6. Test frequently enough that student become accustomed to the format and have opportunities to learn from their mistakes; at the very least consider a similar format for the midterm and final. Allow students to justify and elaborate on their multiple-choice answers, which enhances control, and give partial or full credit for acceptable and reasonable justifications of alternative answers.
7. When grading tests, consider dropping questions missed by a large number of students – and then reteach the material when you return the tests. This sense of shared responsibility for the learning process heightens student awareness that you are committed more to their mastery of the material than to penalizing them for what they do not yet know.
8. Provide feedback that is constructive, noncontrolling and informative, thus enhancing student desire to improve and to continue to learn.
9. In your supervision of teaching assistants, make the motivational implications of your instructional decisions explicit.

Source: McKeachie’s Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers, Svinicki, M, McKeachie, WJ, 2011