Myron H. Dembo, Ph.D Emeritus Professor of Educational Psychology

1. Barriers and Solutions for Changing Students’ Motivation and Engagement for Learning Myron H. Dembo, Ph.D Emeritus Professor of Educational Psychology University of Southern California dembo@usc.edu January 5, 2012 Saddleback College

2. Barrier #1: Students’ lack personal and career goals

3. Do students know where they are going?

4. GOAL THEORY Students are motivated when they: • have a goal they believe is achievable • have the desire (reasonable effort) to attain the goal • have a plan in place to attain the goal

5. Possible Selves Hoped-for possible self we would like to become (e.g., teacher, attorney, professional athlete) Expected possible self we are fairly sure we can become (e.g., college graduate) Feared possible self we wish to avoid becoming (e.g., a dropout, homeless, unemployed) How one thinks about the self and the future

6. Possible Selves Intervention Program • Discovering –What are my strengths and weaknesses? • Thinking – Who am I? What are my hopes and fears? • Sketching - What am I like? • Reflecting – What can I be? • Growing – How can I reach my goals? • Performing – How am I doing? Hock, M., Schumaker, J., & Deshler, D. (2003). Possible selves: Nurturing student motivation. Lawrence, Kansas: Edge Enterprises.

7. Barrier # 2: Problems with students’ self-worth and fear of failure

8. Self-worth = ability = performance Covington’s Self-Worth Theory (1992) Excuses, procrastination • Self-worth is based on ability, BUT if one can demonstrate that his or her performance does not reflect on ability, then self-worth is maintained. This is why students often use failure-avoidance strategies.

9. Why Do Some Students fail to Seek Help? • Help seeking can imply inadequacy and threaten self-worth • Help seeking can expose learners to public scrutiny • Students often fail to adequately judge their skills level so they believe that they can succeed without assistance • Students incorrectly contribute their poor performance to a lack of ability rather than effort

10. Barrier #3: Students’ lack self-regulatory skills

11. What is Academic Self-Regulation? The ability of learners to control the factors or conditions affecting their learning. “Learning is not something that happens to students, it is something that happens by students.” - Zimmerman

12. Academic Toolbox Learning strategies “It is not that students don’t have the ability to succeed. The problem is that they have not acquired all the tools necessary to learn.” Focus on learning strategies not learning styles.

13. What are the major components of academic self-regulation? • Motivation (Why?) • Methods of learning (How?) • Use of time (When?) • Management of one’s physical environment (Where?) • Management of one’s social environment (With whom?) • Management of one’s performance (What?) From Dembo, M., & Seli, H. (2008). Motivation and Learning Strategies for College Success (3rd ed.). Mahway, NJ: Erlbaum

15. Barrier #4: Some inappropriate instruction

16. The Psychology of the First Day of Class • What are students thinking about when they first enter your class? • What information are they looking for? • What are your purposes and goals for the first day? • What do you do to attain these purposes and goals? • What do you think students say to each other when they leave your class the first day.

17. “A learning-centered syllabus requires that you shift from what you, the instructor are going to cover in your course to a concern for what information, tools, assignments, and activities you can provide to promote your students’ learning and intellectual development” (p. xiv) From O’Brien, J. et al. (2008). The course syllabus: A learning-centered approach. San Francisco: Wiley.

18. Checklist for Developing a Syllabus • Instructor information • Student information form • Statement of teaching philosophy • Purpose of the course • Course description • Course objectives • Readings • Resources • Course calendar • Course requirements • Policy and expectations: Attendance, late papers, missed tests, and class behaviors • Policies and expectations: Academic honestly, disability access, and safety • Evaluation • Grading procedure • How to succeed in this course: Tools for study and learning From O’Brien, J. et al. (2008). The course syllabus: A learning-centered approach. San Francisco: Wiley.

19. Attendance • Class attendance appears to be a better predictor of college grades than any other known predictor of college grades—including SAT scores, HSGPA, study skills, and the amount of time studying. In deed the relationship is so strong as to suggest that dramatic improvement in average grades (and failure rates) could be achieved by efforts to increase class attendance rates among college students .”(p. 288-289) • From Crede, Roch, & Kieszynka (2010) in the Review of Educational Research.

20. Checking for Understanding: Think-Pair-Share Three stages of student action: • Think. The instructor engages students’ thinking with a question, prompt, reading, visual or observation. • Pair. Students pair up to discuss their respective responses. • Share. After students talk in pairs for a few moments, the teacher asks pairs to share their thinking with the rest of the class.

21. Strategies to Check for Understanding • Ask students to turn in a question about the readings in a box in from of the lecture room. • Plan your lecture around a series of questions that the lecture answers • Turn-to-your partner discussions. Divide the lecture into 10 to 15 minute segments. Use different discussion tasks: Summarize the answer to the question being discussed Solve a problem Give a reaction to the theory, concepts, or information being presented. Elaborate the material being presented. Predict or explain Attempt to resolve the conceptual conflict the presentation has aroused. Hypothesize answers to the question being posed.

22. Summary • Barrier #1: Students’ lack personal and career goals • Barrier # 2: Problems with students’ self- worth and fear of failure • Barrier #3: Students’ lack self-regulatory skills • Barrier #4: Some inappropriate instruction