By Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.
Motivation has a neurobiological component. This probably does not come as any surprise to you. After all, when something fails to stimulate you, you tend to become bored. Likewise, when something piques your interest, you're likely to be motivated to engage with the task, whether it be physical or cognitive.
In fact, educational psychologists including the seminal theorist, Robert Gagne, have place stimulation at the very beginning of instruction. For Gagne, the first of the nine "events of instruction" that he identified is the need to gain one's attention. Gaining the learner's attention occurs through a stimulus.
Many instructors and instructional designers suggest that the best way to stimulate attention is to capture one's interest through a physical or emotional stimulus, which could range from flashing lights to an intriguing story. However, it's important to keep in mind that cultural differences can make the difference between a positive stimulus and a negative one.
Individuals make appraisals of the stimulation. Cultural factors come into play, as well as context, history, and local practice. What is stimulating in one situation — for one place or program — can be very tedious and overplayed in another.
Motivation does not happen after the stimulus. It happens while the stimulus is taking place. According to the research of J. Schumann, motivation occurs as an aspect of stimulation, and the appraisals of stimulation that accompany it.
For Schumann, there are five dimensions:
- 1.) Novelty. It is important to make sure that the information being presented has a degree of novelty, and that responses and information are, at least to some degree, unexpected.
- 2.) Pleasantness. The presentation of the information and the way in which students interact with the material should be attractive, and the experience should be pleasant (not unattractive, ugly, or stressful).
- 3.) Goal/Need Significance. The instructional material, the e-learning experience must align with the learner's overall goals and desired outcomes.
- 4.) Coping Potential. When presented with materials or instructional tasks, the elearner must feel competent and able to overcome challenges and to successfully cope with anxiety and/or ambiguity.
- 5.) Self and Social Image. The elearning experience, which includes instructional materials, instructional activities, collaborations, and interactive tasks, should reinforce a positive sense of self, and to encourage the formation of a supportive, friendly learning community. This is most often achieved in the discussion forum area, or with interactions with the instructor and with students via e-mail, chat, blogs, and shared images (podcasts, video, images).
The appraisals of the stimulus are a part of the individual's value system, which means that one should be aware of the context and situation in which there are neurological stimuli. The degree of effectiveness has a great deal to do with the way in which the values align with the stimuli. Thus, there are qualitative as well as quantitative aspects of motivational neurobiological stimulation. The findings can be applied to online learning, study, and instruction.
To be effective as an e-learner, it is important to learn how to use neurobiological stimuli to your advantage. Some of the most effective ways involve Web 2.0 approaches, which include extreme interactivity with the web and data sources, and proactive, engaged and purposeful interaction with other people who share the same learning goals.
References:
Dornyei, Z. (2005). Motivation and self-motivation. The Psychology of the Language Learner: Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition (pp. 65-119), Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Fields, Dennis. (1996). The Impact of Gagne's Theories on Practice. EDRS-Academic Search Database.
Gagne, Briggs, & Wager.1988. Principles of Instructional Design. Holt, Rinehart & Winston: New York.
Gagne's Learning Outcomes—
http://online.sfsu.edu/~foreman/itec800/finalprojects/annie/gagne'slearningoutcome.html
Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction—
http://online.sfsu.edu/~foreman/itec800/finalprojects/annie/gagne'snineevents.html
Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction.
http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/gagnesevents/index.htm
Schumann, J. H. (1998). The neurobiology of affect in language. Oxford: Blackwell.
Schumann, J. H. (1999). A neurobiological perspective on affect and methodology in second language learning. In J. Arnold (Ed.) Affect in language learning (pp. 28-42). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schumann, J. H. (2001a). Appraisal psychology, neurobiology, and language. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 21, 23-42.
Schumann, J. H. (2001b). Learning as foraging. In Z. Dornyei & R. Schmidt (Eds.), Motivation and second language acquisition (pp. 21-28). Honolulu: University of Hawaii.
Schumann, J. H., Crowell, S. E., Lee, N., Schuchert, S. A., & Wood, L. A. (2004). The neurobiology of learning: Perspectives from second language acquisition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.