Saturday, August 10, 2013
Motivational Instruction and New Technolgies
I accepted a position at the rank of Assistant Professor in a large, state university. During the interview, I was given a tour of the facilities. I was impressed with the level of technology in the classrooms. Multiple flat screens, digital overhead document presenters, cameras in several locations with the ability to track the lecturer as they moved about the room, and the ability to allow a lecture to be recorded and connected to Blackboard within minutes of a course ending, and jacks in front of each student chair. Being a highly technical person, I thought “this is the place for me!”. I packed up the family and away we went.
I was assigned to work with a faculty member as an orientation to some of the courses. I eagerly awaited the use of all the technology. When the scantrons came out and a plain PowerPoint led the way, I asked why she didn’t use the camera or the available technology. She was disdainful and said if we do that students won’t come to class. I tried to explain how technology may be used to enhance a course and that a video lecture is a great option in inclement weather. This is a very snowy place with icy roads.
I realized my burst of laughter at the sight of the paper exams and scantrons might not help my cause. I thought this might be a case of a lack of understanding related to technology so thought I’d try and show the person. This was met with stony silence and I found my fellow faculty becoming distant. I eventually resigned.
The outcome might have been better had I used Keller’s Attention Relevance Confidence and Satisfaction (ARCS) model (as cited in Driscoll, 2005). By remaining quiet and waiting, I could have gained the attention of faculty by using the technology in my own courses or by making a presentation using the technology in the monthly faculty meeting. This would demonstrate the relevance of the tools and given other faculty the confidence to use it with satisfactory results. Changing the way people think and adding to knowledge takes time and patience. Using the ARCS model gives us a systematic tool to help learners move forward.
References
Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction (3rd ed.).Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
Labels:
ARCS,
keller,
learning,
motivational learning
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment