At my former school, I was a Master Technology Teacher. Part of my responsisbility, as such, was to teach teachers how to use and create interactive lessons using Promethean ActivBoards. Doing so, required me to step into a leadership position at school and truly see teachers' resistance to technology in a different light. Although teachers in this system resisted, I believe in the technology strategies and changes being made. Many teachers hid behind closed doors hoping that "out of sight, out of mind" would mean not having to participate or use the material. Others believed that if they fussed about it long enough, they would not have to use the equipment and their problems would magically go away. Had I, at the time, been aware of John M. Keller's ARCS model for motivation, my colleagues outcomes could have been different while learning how to integrate technology into their classrooms. According to Driscoll (2005), Keller's theory"assumes that students' motives (or values), together with their expectancies (efficacy and outcome expecations), will influence the degree of attention and effort they will supply to a learning task" (Driscoll, 2005, p. 332).
Had I applied Keller's ARCS model, it might have looked something like this:
Attention: When starting a new lesson, I could have intrigued the teachers by showing them a new gadget to use when teaching a lesson like the reveal tool in a miniature form. When using the reveal tool with a bit of imagination, it can become a magic wand, x-ray machine, or magnifying glass.
Relevance: During the lesson, I could help teachers see the relevance of the tool. Using the tool in this manner, will be more intriguing to the students and make any of their lessons more interesting.
Confidence: One way to help teachers gain confidence is to walk them through creating the reveal tool using simple steps, so it will be easier for them to recreate it on their own. By breaking down how to create the tool and how to use the tool, I can help them be more confident when creating interactive lessons using their grade level curriculum.
Satisfaction: Once teachers see how easy it is to use the tool in one lesson, they will be more willing to create more lessons using the reveal tool to make interactive lessons. In addition, as teachers participate in the lessons, they could have a positive consequence such as receiving SDU credit to make them more willing to create more interactive lessons.
Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
I think that Keller got it right when he put confidence in his motivation model. I know that when I was starting to push into new technology the confidence was the issue I was missing. Luckily I was willing to fall on my face in front of students,but I understand why many teachers are so reluctant to do that. Your comments on confidence of your teachers provides a window into this important facet of motivation. I always left my trainings by asking teachers what did you learn to use today. That way the last thing they said was something that they felt like they could use. I asked them to remember that one thing even if they forgot the other cool stuff I showed them, then they got some confidence that they knew one thing and the satisfaction that they got something out of the training period.
ReplyDeleteYou hit on some of the same points as I did. Allowing relevance to be seen by learners is critical. I find that both teachers and students alike need to see the relevance of subject to learn it.
ReplyDeleteGreat post!
It is difficult to bring in new technology when people feel like their job will get harder and they will have to learn something new. You did a great job of showing how the ARCS model could have made a difference. Once people see the advantages of new technology, their attitudes usually change.
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