As an Instructional Designer, motivating learners is an important consideration because in reality learners are not always motivated to learn. They are busy, have other things to do, don’t see the course/session as being important or have had a bad learning experience in the past. I’ve written previously about motivation – Motivation and eLearning – which was about satisfying autonomy, competence and relatedness needs of learners. I’ve come across Dr John Keller’s motivational design model known as ARCS and thought it was worth sharing.
The ARCS model comprises four major factors that influence the motivation to learn – Attention, Relevance, Confidence and Satisfaction. It’s described as a problem-solving model and helps designers identify and solve specific motivational problems related to the appeal of instruction. The model was developed after a comprehensive review and synthesis of motivation concepts and research studies. It has also been validated in studies across different education levels.
The four categories of motivation variables consist of sub-categories along with process questions to consider when designing:
Attention = Capturing the interest of learners, stimulating their curiosity to learn.
- Perceptual Arousal: What can I do to capture their interest?
- Inquiry Arousal: How can I stimulate an attitude of inquiry?
- Variability: How can I maintain their attention?
Relevance = Meeting the personal needs/goals of the learner to affect a positive attitude.
- Goal Orientation: How can I best meet my learner’s needs? (Do I know their needs?)
- Motive Matching: How and when can I provide my learners with appropriate choices, responsibilities and influences?
- Familiarity: How can I tie the instruction to the learners’ experience?
Confidence = Helping the learners believe/feel that they will succeed and control their success.
- Learning Requirements: How can I assist in building a positive expectation for success?
- Success Opportunities: How will the learning experience support or enhance the learners’ beliefs in their competence?
- Personal Control: How will learners clearly know their success is based upon their efforts and abilities?
Satisfaction = Reinforcing accomplishment with rewards (internal and external).
- Natural Consequences: How can I provide meaningful opportunities for learners to use their newly acquired knowledge/skill?
- Positive Consequences: What will provide reinforcement to the learners’ successes?
- Equity: How can I assist the learners in anchoring a positive feeling about their accomplishments?
The following link is to a YouTube video where Dr Keller discusses the ARCS Model, some background in its development and the addition of volition to the model.
ARCS: A Conversation with John Keller
Apart from the motivational aspects of the model, what I really like about ARCS is that it puts the learner at the centre of the design process.
After all, that’s how it should be.
References:
Keller, J. M. (1987) Strategies for stimulating the motivation to learn. Performance and Instruction. 26 (8), 1-7.
Comments
9 responses to “Integrating Motivation with Instructional Design”
Nice post, Matt! I’m a fan of the ARCS model too! In fact I once used it to motivate a monster buddy of mine in the challenges – so I can attest to it’s effectiveness.
Ah yes, I remember that challenge well Jackie – it was one of my favourites of yours 🙂
[…] As an Instructional Designer, motivating learners is an important consideration because in reality learners are not always motivated to learn. They are busy, have other things to do, don’t see the … […]
Matt –
This is such a great follow up to your recent article about motivation. I agree that it is important to keep things student-centered when it can be easier to write curriculum that is fun and motivating for us.
Thanks for another fine summary,
Jenn
Hi Jenn, thanks for reading and for again taking the time to comment. I really appreciate it 🙂
Great post, Matt! Always my favorite topic, even when I was teaching. I’d like to add that learning about the learners,their interests, needs, and difficulties will help design materials that suit them best. Consequently this boosts their motivation. It always helped me during my teaching time, and I believe now that we can’t have direct contact with them, we need to collect as much necessary information as possible about them.
Hi Elham, thanks for your comments. Yes, the more we know about our learners will help us to tailor materials to them so that they’ll get more out of it.
Hi Matt,
I was in Singapore last week and had the good fortune to attend several lectures by Dr Keller.
The model has been expanded to ARCS-V. The V stands for volition. In a nutshell, it’s the degree of commitment the student/learner has to persevere through to the end. He made the point that both too little or too much is a problem.
Overall, I like the ARCS-V concept. At the same time though you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. It struck me if the course is irrelevant (or sucks), no matter what motivational fairy dust you put on it, more people than not will tune out.
Ben
Hi Ben, thanks for stopping by. Those lectures would have been interesting to attend and thanks for letting me know about the addition of volition – I’ll check it out. Cheers!