Philosophy
This is a presentation concerning the academic motivational techniques that are currently in practice at my class and other techniques that have been studied by various researchers and have been proven to be functional in learning environments. Academic motivation skills aim at improving students’ performance in terms of grades and attaining social skills.
There are various motivation techniques employed in my class. Formal approaches like; maintaining organized lectures, all students being keen, encouraging good time management skills and upholding proper social conduct. Informal approaches have also been employed. This entails sharing any useful information through the internet by use of emails. All of the above practices have ensured that students achieve optimum performance in accordance to their learning abilities. Most importantly, efficiency in application of these practices is ensured by the class’s consistency.
These techniques are efficient and operational due to a number of reasons. They are operational because they are; easy to understand, simple to abide by and they can be easily implemented. They are efficient because they enable smooth running of class operations without any hitches like distractions from noisy eaters or late attendances in lectures.
According to Jurisevic, an integrated model of academic motivation can be used to improve students’ performance. This is according to a research conducted based on elementary school students. This model is based on the principle of differentiation in a student’s school years. The model involves twenty one components that have been integrated into three classes of motivation orientations. These include avoidance and helplessness, intrinsic motivational orientation and external motivational. These components are combined in different manners to form different motivation patterns. The students are then grouped into various groups in which they possess homogenous motivation needs.
This way motivation patterns are applied more easily and effectively to all the students. The patterns applied mainly influence the learning patterns of students therefore improving their performance. This model also provides room for further development of the skills. This is due to the fact that it involves how the wider social circle influences a students learning. When this is understood by educators, they have the power to positive alter their students learning abilities and overall performance. The fact that this model caters for a wide variety of; students characteristics and factors that influence students learning, is very appealing and it increases the model’s reliability.
The second motivation technique in this discussion that have been previously studied includes three motivational variables; “ideal self”, “students attitudes” and “ought to self” as discussed by Rajab et.al. This motivation technique is principally based on the student’s perspective and efforts. When the three variables are simply put, they encompass the attitude and learning skills of the students. The study was conducted among foreign students learning English as a second language. It is important to note that these students were learning in a foreign land about a foreign language.
Having a positive attitude towards learning, interacting with locals and having a self-identity are the variables that motivated this set of students according to the study. In this context, the student has the responsibility of being comfortable in their own shoes, positively interacting with individuals in the local community and having a positive attitude toward learning. It is therefore right to conclude that this set up mainly involves personal motivation on the student’s part. Their educators play a small role in this set up, as the best they can do is improve the students attitudes through talks and introduce them to the locals.
Lastly, motivation to be academically participative and productive can depend on the educators. This is according to Halawah, based on his study conducted in 2011. In his study, he investigates other factors that largely motivate students into becoming more productive. He found out that some students are motivated by various aspects of the classroom environment as orchestrated by the educator. Some were motivated by the social environment created in class, involvement in the class’s progress and the enthusiasm of the instructor.
How much the students were motivated to be more productive depended on how the instructors dealt with these groups of students. Students that were interested in the progress of the class were assigned class work that was not too easy or too hard. Instructors that had good class management techniques also positively influenced their students. This involves having a set of various skills on the instructor’s part. It involves; being able to build relationships with students, taking time to learn what the students are interested in and connecting their areas of interests to lessons, concentrating on the students’ strengths and avoiding putting emphasis on their weaknesses and most importantly encouraging intrinsic motivation among students.
In conclusion, all the motivation techniques that have been explained above can be helpful in the education sector if they are put to consideration by students as well as their teachers. These techniques would go a long way in improving the learning abilities and consequent productivity of the education sector.
