Students need to be motivated if they are to engage and do what ‘good students’ should do. Without motivation they will go through the paces, be there in body, but not in spirit or mentally. In some cases, they will not be there in body either.

Student motivation is an intriguing and interesting challenge. There are lots of myths and misconceptions. We have found that a mixed, hybrid approach has worked best.

Thoughts...

• Motivation should not be confused by what happens with edutainment. Having fun can motivate many things, but deep learning is not often one. If one wants to motivate attendance and good course evaluations, edutainment will do. Edutainment will not motivate work and self-learning. See the note on Edutainment,
• Students are not homogeneous in their motivation and you will never motivate all of them all of the time. You will motivate some of them some of the time. Hopefully, this will work out.
• Some are motivated only by marks and these students can be bribed to attend, memorize, regurgitate, and recite recipes. True learning is rarely achieved this way, in our humble opinion. The students will game and optimize the process for short term retention. Depending on an instructor’s goals, this can work out, a match made in heaven.
• Punitive methods and techniques do not work. Many instructors use marks in a punitive fashion. Not good. Punitive methods add to the problem, do not make it better.
• Improvement and development of sustained skill is not likely to be motivated by marks. Marks will drive the survival instinct, but not provide the student sufficient incentive to do deliberate practice, to reflect, to repeat.
• Value, real and perceived, will be drivers and there are certain values that will work amazingly well, in addition to marks.
• A few, not many, may be motivated to ‘prove something’ to the instructor. They make it personal. This has worked at times for certain subsets of students who need a mechanism to do more than just walk it through.
• Some will be motivated by the immediate value that might arise with respect to getting a coop, internship, or part time job. Getting the interview. Getting the job. Doing well on the job. Some will be motivated by the long term value; after graduation. This value can be status, $$$, something to post on social media, something for the ego.
• Some will be motivated by peer pressure and peer respect.

• Some will be motivated by compliments they will get when showing their learning and outcomes to others.
• Some will be motivated by the instructor’s praise.
• Some will be motivated by dopamine and other ‘rushes’ that come from the excitement of doing, overcoming challenges, reaching the goal when it is not considered possible.
• It is possible to design learning activities and assessments that, for the lack of a better phrase, exploit the above.
• Do not try to use too many motivating methods at the same time. It gets messy, real fast.
• Do not use the same method every time. There must be some novelty and change up during the term and it is necessary to vary the method because of the heterogeneity of the student population with respect to motivation.
• Neutral situations are not the same as motivational, positive situations. Do not think that neutral is good enough.
• It is sometimes easier to be motivated if the students work together, have buddies.
• Do not confuse what motivated you as a student, or what motivates you as an instructor, with what might motivate current students. Tis a different game.
• Sometimes it takes a little bit of pain to open the ears and to show possible value through a real-time a/b comparison. If you are doing this, you need to do the full circle within a lecture and ensure that the students feel the dopamine rush from realizing the learning and value. The rush will not happen to the same level if the closure is delayed.

Further reading

• Bandura, A. (1993). Perceived self-efficacy in cognitive development and functioning. Educational Psychologist, 28(2), 117-148.
• Elliott, E.S., & Dweck, C.S. (1988). Goals: An approach to motivation and achievement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(1), 5-12.
• Motivating Our Students. Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo. https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-resources/teaching-tips/teaching-tips-creating-positive-learning-environment/inclusivity-accessibility-and-motivation/motivating-our-students
• Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68-78.
• Yeager, D.S., & Dweck, C.S. (2012). Mindsets that promote resilience: When students believe that personal characteristics can be developed. Educational Psychologist, 47(4), 302-314.