Shelley Ross, PhD Department of Family Medicine Faculty Development January 13, 2011 M OTIVATING YOUR L EARNER

O VERVIEW Motivation theory: what makes people want to learn? Findings from motivation research Feedback: What doesnt work What does work Applying research findings to the clinical teaching setting

W HAT IS M OTIVATION ? Motivation is the process whereby goal-directed activity is instigated and sustained Pintrich & Schunk, 2004

M OTIVATION : A H ISTORY Initial work : psychology researchers Focus: What drives behaviour? Basic needs = main motivators Stimulus-response Hull (1943) moved motivation theory beyond basic needs and into the domain of drive to succeed

A CHIEVEMENT T HEORY Growing out of Hulls work, educational psychologists began to study what drives students in classrooms Cognitive theories of motivation are the most researched These are loosely termed as achievement theories

A CHIEVEMENT T HEORY Five main theories of motivation in education Much overlap between theories Certain components will resonate for people Instructional recommendations from research around each theory are applicable to most students

S ELF - EFFICACY Bandura (1997) & Schunk (1991) Self-perception of I can do it leads to motivation Future-oriented; situation-specific; unstable – varies with situation; Expectancies and goals required to determine self-efficacy

S ELF - WORTH Covington (1984; 1992) People are motivated by the need to feel competent; to be worthy is to be able (Graham & Weiner, 1996) Need is to protect a sense of ones own ability in order to preserve self-worth success = high self-worth, failure = low self-worth want to maximize rewards and minimize punishment.

E XPECTANCY - VALUE Eccles (1987, 2005), Eccles & Wigfield (2000) Choice, persistence, direction of behaviour depend upon value of the task and its successful completion expectancies based on learners self-perceptions of competence 4 dimensions for task-value: attainment value intrinsic value utility value cost

A TTRIBUTION T HEORY Weiner (1985) Outcomes (particularly failure) lead to search for reasons for outcome; causal attribution impacts future expectancies Causal search; focus on outcome (past- oriented); attributions can be internal/external (locus), stable/unstable (stability), and within or beyond the learners control (controllability)

A CHIEVEMENT G OAL T HEORY Ames (1984), Dweck & Leggett (1988), Nicholls, 1984) Implicit goals exist for all tasks: do it to learn/do it for yourself, OR do it to look good/be better than others (OR both) Implicit goal orientations are adopted for a task: mastery/learning/task orientation = doing task to learn/improve skill performance-avoid = do not do task to avoid looking bad performance-approach = do task to look good

L EARNING AND M OTIVATION Self-efficacy and goal orientation are predictive of, or positively correlated with, the use of cognitive strategies and self-regulated learning (Bandalos et al., 2003; Patrick et al., 2001; Pintrich & DeGroot, 1990; Schraw et al., 1995; Zimmerman & Martinez-Pons 1990) Self-worth predicts the use of self- handicapping (Covington, 2000), which interferes with student learning

L EARNING AND M OTIVATION Task value predicts whether students plan to enroll, & whether they actually enroll in courses; expectancies predict achievement once students actually enroll (Wigfield & Eccles, 2002), which suggests that expectancies are impacting student learning during the course. Attributions indirectly affect student learning through their impact on self-efficacy and self- worth (Linnenbrink & Pintrich, 2002; Pintrich, 2003).

M OTIVATION AND I NSTRUCTION Achievement motivation constructs interact Planning instruction around one motivational variable will likely have an influence on other motivational constructs. Improving self-efficacy can encourage adoption of a learning goal; Creating an environment that protects self-worth while allowing mistakes can lead to adaptive attributions, higher self-efficacy, and eventually the adoption of a learning goal. Creating a learning environment that encourages and fosters motivation can lead to improvements in learning outcomes.

F EEDBACK Effects of feedback have been examined in all areas of achievement motivation, but are particularly important in the impact feedback has on attributions, self-worth, and intrinsic motivation. In the case of attributions, the feedback given by teachers after either success or failure will influence the attributions that students make for the outcome (Pintrich, 2003; Pintrich & Schunk, 2002).

F EEDBACK Accuracy of feedback regarding the causes of failure – was the failure due to lack of effort? poor strategy use? – should be both adaptive and honest. The best evidence for the impact of feedback on attributions can be found in research on attributional retraining, where students are systematically given feedback to encourage them to make adaptive attributions (for example, Hall et al., 2004).

F EEDBACK Finally, feedback as a course progresses was found to have an influence on students self- efficacy beliefs (Bandura, 1993, as cited in Tollefson, 2000, p. 68). Performance-focused feedback, as opposed to effort or strategy-focused feedback, may lead to the development of high outcome expectancies paired with low self-efficacy, which can lead to the choice not to exert effort.

F EEDBACK So what IS feedback? Evaluative information in response to an activity or behaviour Key elements: Informative There is always an evaluation component to feedback in education

F EEDBACK & A SSESSMENT In our context: In both undergraduate and graduate programs Feedback is part of assessment

F EEDBACK & A SSESSMENT Feedback on performance can be one of two kinds: Feedback to further learning Feedback that is a judgment of learning

F EEDBACK & A SSESSMENT Five kinds of evaluative feedback Confirmation (No, youre wrong) Corrective (No, youre wrong. The answer is Alberta) Explanatory (Your answer was wrong because Edmonton is not in B.C.; it is in Alberta) Diagnostic (Your answer suggests that some extra study of Canadian geography would be helpful) Elaborative (You will find as you study further that Edmonton is home to the University of Alberta, home of a terrific Family Medicine Residency program).

F EEDBACK & R ESIDENTS Best feedback to Residents is INFORMATIVE Residents enjoy compliments But will learn better from constructive feedback

F EEDBACK & R ESIDENTS Boehler et al., 2006 RCT: students given informative feedback on their performance after instruction in two-handed surgical knot-tying VS. students given compliments on how well they did the technique Informative feedback group performed the skill better BUT: compliments group reported significantly higher satisfaction with the instruction

F EEDBACK & R ESIDENTS Feedback should be about specific behaviours You handled that encounter well does not give as much information as You communicated well with Mrs. Smith. She really responded to the way you made an effort to keep eye contact with her and talked to her at eye level instead of standing and looking down at her

F EEDBACK & R ESIDENTS All feedback should give the opportunity for further learning You seemed to have some trouble explaining those medication instructions to Mr. Smith. Would it be helpful if we reviewed asthma management?

F EEDBACK & R ESIDENTS Feedback should be about actions or decisions, not about how you interpret the Resident's reasons behind those actions

F EEDBACK & R ESIDENTS If you do give subjective feedback, be sure to indicate that you are doing so

F EEDBACK & R ESIDENTS Frame feedback in a way that allows Residents to self-evaluate first How do you think that went?

F EEDBACK & R ESIDENTS Feedback should be clear Resist the temptation to address multiple issues at once Provide specific feedback about a specific behaviour or action If a larger issue must be addressed, make sure the feedback session includes the opportunity for the resident to make a plan to rectify the problem

Questions?