Technology and Motivation Using the Six C’s

Overview Need for Student Motivation Technology as a Motivator for Students The Six C’s of Motivation Defined Applying the Six C’s to a Lesson Conclusion

Need for Student Motivation Student success is tied to their motivation Giving students choice usually has them more motivated to do well Being able to use technology is a motivating factor for students Working collaboratively with other students is also motivating Students who are intrinsically motivated tend to do better on tasks

Technology as a Motivator for Students is “fun” learning for most students makes concepts visual authentic learning can inspire personal interest aids academic success can promote fewer behavioural problems

What are the Six C’s of Motivation? Turner and Paris (1995) termed the Six C's of Motivation as choice, challenge, control, collaboration, constructing meaning, and consequences. The Six C’s of Motivation strategies have the potential to enhance students' motivation when applied to open- ended tasks.

Choice Providing students with explicit choices among alternatives can enhance intrinsic motivation. When students are given choices to select assignments that are close to their personal interests, their motivation to do the work should increase.

Challenge According to the Zone of Proximal Development, students thrive at tasks at or just beyond their skill level. The tasks assigned should be “just right”: challenging but not too difficult and beyond their abilities; tasks that are too easy can become boring to students.

Control If students are involved in the process of classroom control, they will be more responsible, independent, and self-regulated learners. This means involving them in the process of decision- making, organization of content, and choosing partners or groups. Giving students decision making opportunities promotes ownership which in turn provides motivation.

Collaboration Communication and collaboration allows students to foster sharing of ideas and can enhance thinking and learning. Students share learning strategies and perspectives with each other through social interaction.

Constructing Meaning Students need to find value and importance in what they are working on, in order to construct meaning. If students perceive the value of knowledge, their motivation to learn increases. Setting a meaningful goal for students is an important factor to promote motivation.

Consequences Students need to have their work appreciated and valued. When students are provided opportunities to display their work, motivation increases. This strategy creates a positive feeling about effort, ownership, achievement, and responsibility.

Applying the Six C’s to a Media Literacy Lesson

Lesson Plan—Motivation Title: Technology and Motivation Grade: 5/6 Curriculum expectations: describe in detail the topic, purpose, and audience for media texts they plan to create produce a variety of media texts for specific purposes and audiences, using appropriate forms, conventions, and techniques identify, with some support and direction, what strategies they found most helpful in making sense of and creating media texts, and explain how these and other strategies can help them improve s media viewers/listeners/producers   Assessment: Student generated success criteria for creating PhotoStory, Bitstrips, and Xtranormal productions. As students will have had prior experience working with these applications, success criteria will have already been created for other assignments based on curriculum expectations and posted in the classroom. Adjustments will be made to each based on this assignment and student input. Students will be provided with individual copies of checklist success criteria with “met”, “not yet met” and “comments” for self and peer assessment Teacher observation Materials Required: Teacher laptop, LCD Projector, Classroom Computers www.mindmeister.com Anchor Chart of Media Triangle and Guiding Questions PhotoStory www.bitstripsforschools.com www.xtranormal.com Storyboard Graphic Organizer

Modifications/Accommodations: Students will work in triads Additional accommodations, if needed, as described in student IEPs Prior Learning: Students should be familiar with PhotoStory, Bitstrips, and/or Xtranormal Instruction: Shared Lesson (Before) 1 period Brainstorm with students the reasons they enjoy using technology in the classroom using www.mindmeister.com (Do you find it motivating and why?). Explain to the students that they are going to being presenting their ideas to other teachers to help them understand the motivating factors of technology in the classroom. (We use technology in our class, but there are some teachers who don’t. What can you tell them to try and persuade them that technology is something they should be implementing?) They will have the option of using PhotoStory, Bitstrips or Xtranormal to present their ideas. Present Media Triangle Guiding Questions to students: Audience: What is the purpose of my message? Who is my audience? What do I know about my audience? What does my audience like? Text: What information will I include and exclude? How can I make this message appealing to my audience? Production: What are some of the techniques used in my chosen medium? What effective techniques and symbolic elements might I use?

Activity (During) 3-4 periods Give students time to plan their presentation piece using graphic organizers. Conference with students to ensure they are on track using Media Triangle Guiding Questions to prompt reflection: Is the information clear to the reader? Do I need to add or delete information? How well does my presentation suit my purpose and audience? After completion of storyboards, students create their chosen medium getting and receiving feedback during the process from teacher and other students. Consolidation (After) Groups are provided with specific feedback from teacher. Students view completed presentations using LCD projector. Discuss effectiveness of each using anchor charts and success criteria as a guide.

How are the Six C’s used?

Choice in the Lesson Students are given options in the choice of medium to present their ideas (either PhotoStory, Bitstrips or Xtranormal). Each of these options would appeal to different students. Bitstrips would require no oral component at all, whereas with PhotoStory or Xtranormal, an oral component is optional.

Challenge in the Lesson While students have worked in all these mediums before, they have not in this context. They have the skills required to do the technological aspect of the task, but the component that requires self-reflection and expressing what motivates them could prove challenging.

Control in the Lesson Students will have control over: decision making options the organization of content choosing who they will work with

Collaboration in the Lesson Students are able to collaborate and communicate with group members sharing their ideas. Peer assessment adds another dimension to the collaboration by allowing other students’ ideas and opinions help shape their understanding and learning.

Constructing Meaning in the Lesson There is a rationale behind this lesson that is authentic and adds value to the learning: students are attempting to persuade teachers to use something that they already value— technology.

Consequences At the conclusion of the lesson, students will be given the opportunity to share and deconstruct their work with each other. Further value is given to their work by having it presented to other teachers in the school.

Conclusion Student motivation is necessary for learning. By implementing the Six C’s into the lesson design of open-ended task, the potential for student motivation increases. Pair this with the use of technology, and student learning becomes even more engaged.