Process Education
Process Education is an integrated approach that addresses many motivational factors relevant to learning and growth (2.2.7 Understanding Motivation and Self-Regulation Theories). Motivation is addressed not only individually and interpersonally but also through the design of quality learning environments (3.1.3 Methodology for Creating a Quality Learning Environment). Process Education provides tools and methods for facilitating, challenging, and mentoring performance and growth to build strengths that allow learners to move past their individual motivational problems (2.3.3 Classification of Learning Skills; 3.2.3 Facilitation Methodology; 4.1.4 Assessment Methodology). The flexible design of Process Education principles and practices supports educators in working with all learner levels and styles (2.2.1 Bloom's Taxonomy—Expanding Its Meaning and 4.3.2 Student Learning Styles).
Assumptions about Motivation
Motivation is defined in terms of the multiple factors that influence emotions, behavior, and judgment. It is assumed that internal and external factors shape freedom to choose such that complete “free will” is not a realistic model of reality, but neither is environmental determinism. Individuals operate within the “range of opportunity” defined by their personal perceptions, emotions, thinking, and skills for choices in contexts in which they wish to attain valued outcomes. Developmental psychologists such as Vygotsky (2006) describe the maturation process as a function of what the social environment provides for a child and how a child responds to this world with his or her physical and psychological abilities at any point in time. Therefore, it is convenient to think of motivation in terms of “readiness” to respond to various challenges.
Wolters (2003) observes that self-regulation applies to many other processes such as cognition, affect, and behavior, all of which are narrower in focus than motivational self-regulation. For example, experts can successfully apply cognitive knowledge across contexts, i.e., they transfer and generalize their knowledge, but might fail if the context is perceived as unfamiliar. An expert’s motivation to continue will be much better served by systematic assessment of the novel context than by further cognitive learning. Unlike cognition, which can occur as a narrowly defined process, motivation involves the full range of influences on a person’s life. Strong thinking skills that are disconnected from valued life outcomes can become more useful if motivational self-regulation becomes stronger, but not vice-versa.
The distinction between novice and expert raises an important question as to what role consciousness plays in motivation and self-regulation. If one is to have optimal control of motivational factors that are constantly in play, it is essential to become aware of one’s limits and biases (4.1.1 Overview of Assessment). Selecting goals that are feasible requires strong self-assessment skills and attention to what will add most to meaning in one’s life (4.1.8 Issues in Choosing Performance Criteria). Process educators build measures and rubrics based on an assumption that self-directed learning is strengthened when individuals actively attend to building learning skills (1.4.5 Performance Levels for Learners and Self-Growers). For example, the 5-level rubrics for assessing learning skill competencies used in Cognitive Domain (2.3.4), Social Domain (2.3.5), and Affective Domain (2.3.6) span a range from non-conscious use through increasing thoughtful and controlled use. Some individuals can “grow” their skills to the transformative level, i.e., to a high level of articulation and use that will dramatically change how many situations or problems can be addressed. For example, effective leaders have a transformative level of skill in knowing how to share a vision that will induce many others to take effective action.
Table 1
|
|
|
Six Principles of Motivation
K. Patricia Cross (2001) offers six principles for enhancing the intrinsic motivation in students. These are summarized in Table 1. She believes in a learner-centered approach to instruction which aims to increase students’ valuation of learning, and asserts that this attitude will serve as the basis for optimistic expectations about success in life. The following paragraphs describe Cross’s six principles and discuss how they align with principles, practices, and tools of Process Education.
Principle One: Expect success.
Process Education includes three guiding principles (2.3.1 Introduction to Process Education) that speak to this expectation that all students can be successful. First, everyone can learn better, regardless of current achievement levels, because potential is not limited by current ability. Second, everyone should expect to require help at times on the path to becoming a capable, self-sufficient, lifelong learner. Third, faculty members must accept responsibility for facilitating student success. Process educators invest time formulating meaningful learning outcomes; they provide students with the means for achieving the outcomes; they intervene to strengthen students’ use of learning skills in the process of mastering disciplinary content; and they promote mentoring relationships which focus on a broad range of life skills (4.2.1 Overview of Mentoring; 4.2.4 Life Coaching: The Heart of Advising).
Principle Two: Create optimal levels of challenge.
Process educators apply various tools to create appropriate levels of challenge. Some learners will experience individual motivational barriers due to deficiencies in learning skills (4.2.2 Becoming a Self-Grower). When that is the case, instructors can help learners by using Constructive Intervention in their facilitation of learning activities. For example, if a student is consistently unprepared for team exercises, the educator can apply an intervention cycle in which he or she prepares the context when delivering instructions for the activity (3.1.7 Setting High Expectations). Facilitators can be on the lookout for growth opportunities in class, perhaps by assessing performance when the student has prepared (3.2.8 Constructive Intervention Techniques). The instructor may identify a limiting skill, for example, a student’s ability to prioritize. By reading and assessing the quality of insights the student expresses in a learning journal, the instructor can determine learner readiness for making choices in order to prioritize (3.4.8 Practical Implementation of Self-Assessment Journals). For students involved in teamwork activities, 4.3.4 The Accelerator Model is a technique for leveraging a combination of the learner’s ability, the level of academic challenge, and the level of the learner’s affective skills. Achieving the appropriate balance of these three variables is viewed as a means of achieving the optimal level of challenge to stimulate both learning and growth.
Principle Three: Encourage feelings of control.
In Process Education classrooms, students are provided with tools for mastering a number of skills sets such as reading, writing, and personal development (2.3.7 Learning Processes through the Use of Methodologies). Students feel greater control over their learning when they know that the methodologies they are using are predictable methods of expanding skills. Assessment is one of the most powerful Process Education practices for encouraging students to assume increasingly greater autonomy. Self-assessment is practiced frequently, in combination with instructor assessment, peer assessment, and assessment of the assessment process itself. Self-validation techniques can also enhance students’ feelings of control (3.3.5 Self-Validation of One’s Learning).
Principle Four: Capitalize on intrinsic motivation.
Process educators foster intrinsic motivation by planning for and implementing quality learning environments (3.1.1 Overview of Quality Learning Environments). The key processes include establishing initial respect, obtaining shared commitment, encouraging students to take risks, and permitting learners to fail so that they can learn from their mistakes. All of these practices connect with students as individual learners. The Life Vision Portfolio supports the learner-educator relationship by providing questions, examples, and criteria to foster personal development (4.2.3 Personal Development Methodology). As they work on their portfolios, students consider fundamental questions such as “Who am I?” and “Where am I going?” This writing-intensive tool includes activities and prompts that help students reflect on and then articulate what they want to accomplish in college and life. Students internalize their purpose in learning, while becoming more engaged in the overall learning and assessment processes.
Principle Five: Give informational feedback.
Most learners need guidance in order to advance the quality of their learning methods and of their mastery of disciplinary knowledge. Ideally, students should gain more conscious control of the skills and processes as they tackle more and more difficult learning outcomes (2.4.6 Methodology for Program Design; 2.4.8 Methodology for Course Design; 2.4.14 Designing Process-Oriented Guided-Inquiry Activities). The key process for facilitating this transformation is the assessment process. Feedback on performance must be positive by keeping a focus on strengths while also suggesting specific ways to improve. An important sign that a learner realizes how to use feedback is their attainment of a Mindset for Assessment (4.1.3). This means the learner has the emotional stability to accept and seek out feedback that can lead to further improvements in performance (4.1.9 SII Method for Assessment Reporting).
Principle Six: Capitalize on social motivation.
Process Education’s emphasis on Cooperative Learning (3.3.2) provides many opportunities for learners to experiment with and discover new perspectives and attitudes through structured peer interactions. Process educators form teams by Designing Teams and Assigning Roles (3.4.2). This not only facilitates smoother functioning of teams but helps learners realize that they achieve difficult learning objectives quite efficiently when each member takes care of an important element of the process. The presence of other teams adds an element of competition that can enhance interest in producing quality outcomes. Well-designed team activities provide concrete opportunities for learners to create new knowledge while also honing their communication and management skills and experiencing what it is to be part of a learning community (2.4.13 Overview of Learning Activities Design and 3.1.2 Introduction to Learning Communities).
Assessing Motivation and Self-Regulation
Motivation is heavily influenced by perceptions and emotions before, during, and after performances but these qualitative features are generally not well known despite extensive research on motivation in educational environments. Most theories of self-regulation emphasize its inherent link with goals. A goal reflects one’s purpose and refers to quantity, quality, or rate of performance (Locke & Latham, 1990). Goal setting involves establishing a standard or objective to serve as the aim of one’s actions. Goals are involved across the different phases of self-regulation: forethought (setting a goal and deciding on goal strategies); performance control (employing goal-directed actions and monitoring performance); and self-reflection (evaluating one’s goal progress and adjusting strategies to ensure success (Zimmerman, 1998). Some research on student perceptions during learning is emerging; for example, Corno and Winne (2004) edited a special issue of the Educational Psychologist that includes qualitative research models and empirical data on student beliefs about knowledge and knowing. Table 2 draws on this research to suggest criteria for assessing the motivation status of a learner before, during, and after a learning task.
Concluding Thoughts
Many educators feel disoriented about how to help students achieve success because they do not appreciate that motivation is a complex process that involves the interaction of many factors that can be influenced through their own actions. In considering the principles of motivation examined in this module, along with the feedback loop model of self-regulation and the four-phase behavior change model examined in 2.2.7 Understanding Motivation and Self-Regulation Theories, it is clear that motivation is a dynamic and developmental process. Process Education principles and methods offer powerful tools for generating and sustaining intrinsic motivation surrounding shared and challenging learning outcomes.
References
Corno, L., & Winne, P. H. (Eds.). (2004). Personal epistemology: Paradigmatic approaches to understanding students’ beliefs about knowledge and knowing [Special issue]. Educational Psychologist, 39 (1).
Cross, K. P. (2001). Motivation: Er…will that be on the test? The Cross Papers (5). Mission Viejo, CA: League for Innovation in the Community College.
Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (1990). A theory of goal setting and task performance. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Mettauer, J. (2002). Life vision portfolio. Lisle, IL: Pacific Crest
Vygotsky, L. S. (2006). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, & E. Souberman. (Eds.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wolters, C. A. (2003). Regulation of motivation: Evaluating an underemphasized aspect of self-regulated learning. Educational Psychologist, 38, 189-205.
Zimmerman, B. J. (1998). Developing self-fulfilling cycles of academic regulation: An analysis of exemplary instructional models. In D. H. Schunk & B. J. Zimmerman (Eds.). Self- regulated learning: From teaching to self-reflective practice (pp. 1-19). New York: Guilford Press.
|
1. Criteria for quality of motivational self-regulation:
2. Criteria for quality of cognitive self-regulation:
3. Criteria for quality of behavioral self-regulation:
|