Instructors throw candy at learners… extrinsic motivation.

Over-reliance on extrinsic motivation can decrease motivation.

These are foundational, set in stone, etc.

This is a sense of urgency – “how much do they care?”

Old thinking: stress or concern is bad

Current thinking: moderate/appropriate stress levels are necessary for growth

e.g. Strength training, stress inducing muscle growth

Closer to an authority figure, the higher the level of concern

e.g. Seeing a cop car in the rearview mirror…

“An instructor on their feet is worth 20 in their seats”

Deadlines can raise the level of concern – impractical in a block training/AHA class setting

Time flipped the other way: long silences during questioning can raise the level of concern

The more visible a learner is, the higher their level of concern, e.g. fear of public speaking

Signaled answers with appropriate wait time increase visibility

Questions are akin to pleading for participation:

“Does anyone want to…”

Your learners think, “Not me!”

Directives are better:

“Think of…”

“Be ready to…”

Positivity is infectious!

The human brain is an emotional not a logical structure – how learners feel effects effort

Nick’s Rules on Leadership Rule #1

Appropriate without distracting.

Honor individual accomplishment

Acknowledge individual behavior and contributions

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his 1990 book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, stresses the importance of challenge-skill balance.

Shunryu Suzuki in Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind points out that “when you learn too easily, you’re tempted to not work hard, to not penetrate to the marrow of your practice.”

An easy task requiring no effort = no feeling of success/achievent – no motivation.

Effort + no guarantee – when it results in success, creates motivation.

Learners thrive at tasks at or just beyond their skill level.

This tells us when to raise/lower the academic bar – calls back to last month’s block of instruction “Checking Understanding”.

This is often what we think of when we think of how to motivate learners.

There is no one more interesting to ourselves than ourselves.

Use learner’s names in positive examples.

Relate the material to be learned to learner’s experiences.

Use examples that relate to learner’s experiences in the class.

Authentic = high level of meaning or direct relation to learner’s lives

Research: we learn quickly/efficiently that which it makes sense to learn

Anything different from what is usually experienced can elicit an alert reflex in the learner’s brain and greater attention results.

However: habituation is a factor, thus the material must also have value on its own merit.

Also: too much vividness or flamboyance will be a distraction.

Examples:
* Modulate your voice
* Move!
* Switch styles, e.g. from lecture to guided discussion to questioning
* Use film/video – judiciously

Motivation to improve is stimulated by:
* What we are doing well
* What needs to be improved
* What to do to improve it

Motivation increases with specific knowledge of results

… but feedback must be effective (subject for another block of instruction?).

Examples: differential diagnoses, drug calcs, EKG interpretation – “how did you get there?”

In increasing motivation, paraphrasing the serenity prayer, focus on the things we can change:

1. Level of concern
2. Feeling tone
3. Success
4. Interest
5. Knowledge of results

Subject material:

Hunter, R (2004). Madeline Hunter's Mastery Teaching. London: Sage Publications Ltd.

Siddle, B. Sharpening The Warrior's Edge. Bellville, IL: PPCT Research Publications.