GOALS & GOAL ORIENTATION

Needs Drive Human Behavior  Murray  Maslow

Importance of goals & goal setting on motivation  Goal setting is a key motivational process.  Learners with a goal and a sense of self-efficacy for attaining it engage in activities they believe will lead to goal attainment.  Goal attainment can lead learners to adopt new goals.  Goals that are proximal, specific, and moderately difficult offer the greatest motivational benefits.  Motivation is enhanced when learners are enthusiastic about the goal and are determined to attain it.  Self-set goals often motivate better than assigned goals.  Goals that are imposed may not motivate if people believe they are too far beyond their skill levels.  It is critical that learners believe that with reasonable effort and persistence they can attain their goals.  Group goals can enhance motivation when group members accept the goal – when members support the goal and each member has some responsibility for goal attainment.

Motivation = Goals X Emotions X Personal Agency Beliefs

Goal content  Refers to the desired or undesired consequences of a particular goal.  Could be assessed by asking people what they want, what they are trying to accomplish, and why they did something.  Intrapersonal Goals/Desired-Within-Person Consequences  Affective goals  Cognitive goals  Subjective Organization goals  Interactional Goals/Desired-Person-Environment Consequences  Self-assertive social relationship goals  Integrative social relationship goals  Task goals

Applying Goal Content Theory in the Classroom  Help students activate a relevant goal for completing a task.  Ensure that goals that are activated are clear, compelling, and presented in such a way that students understand what they need to do to accomplish them.  Help students activate multiple goals.  Create appropriate emotions that facilitate motivation.

Goal Orientation Theory  The purposes or reasons for engaging in achievement behaviors.  An integrated pattern of beliefs that lead to different ways of approaching, engaging in, and responding to achievement situations.  Reasons why we pursue achievement tasks, not just the performance objectives.  A type of standard by which individuals judge their performance and success or failure in reaching the goal.

Mastery Goal-Orientation  A focus on learning, mastering the task according to self-set standards or self improvement, developing new skills, improving or developing competence, trying to accomplish something challenging, and trying to gain understanding or insight.  Affect, cognitive, and behavior outcomes

Performance Goal Orientation  Represents a focus on demonstrating competence or ability and how ability will be judged relative to others; for example, trying to surpass normative performance standards, attempting to best others, using social comparative standards, striving to be the best in the group or class on a task, avoiding judgments of low ability or appearing stupid, and seeking public recognition of high performance levels.  Affect, cognitive, and behavior outcomes

Approach/Avoidance Orientations  Approach-Mastery Orientation  Avoidance-Mastery Orientation  Approach-Performance Orientation  Avoidance-Performance Orientation

Applying Goal Orientation Theory in the Classroom  TARGET: task, authority, recognition, grouping, evaluation, and time  Focus on meaningful aspects of learning activities.  Design tasks for novelty, variety, diversity, and interest.  Design tasks that are challenging, but reasonable in terms of students’ capabilities.  Provide opportunities for students to have some choice and control over the activities in the classroom.  Focus on individual improvement, learning, progress, and mastery.  Strive to make evaluation private, not public.  Recognize student effort.  Help students see mistakes as opportunities for learning.  Use heterogeneous cooperative groups to foster peer interaction; use individual work to convey progress.  Adjust time on task requirements for students having trouble completing work; allow students to plan work schedules and time lines for progress.