Are motivation techniques applicable to students?

Motivation absolutely applies to students and learning. Motivation affects how we pay attention to information and what attempts we’ll make to understand the presented material. If you’ve ever been in a class where checking your cell phone and counting the minutes was your routine, and rote memorization was what you relied on on order to pass tests or make it through essays, you’ve been in a situation where your motivation to learn was low.

Think back to a topic you were inherently interested in, where you engaged in discussion in classes, where you went the extra mile, read ahead, or grabbed extra books to further your learning. This is a time you experienced high motivation in your learning. While some may be motivated by grades or outcomes like obtaining a great report card, a certain GPA, or finishing a degree, it may not be that simple in each course, in each situation, or for each person.

Researchers, course facilitators, and teachers have studied ways to increase students' motivation to help students achieve better outcomes. Motivation can come from either intrinsic or extrinsic factors. Intrinsic motivation describes a desire to learn that comes from within, and extrinsic motivation describes external forces involved in encouraging learning.

Adult learners are often able to choose what they are learning and can therefore have some say in focusing on topics they may desire to learn. Younger learners may be forced to follow a particular curriculum that dictates what areas of study they focus on. For this reason, adult learners may be more likely to draw on intrinsic sources that motivate learning, and younger learners may be best motivated by extrinsic rewards based on performance.

There are many ways to increase motivation in learning, and what works best for you or another person may depend on unique factors, but in general, breaking down tasks to prevent overwhelm, allowing students to decide what and how they learn to the extent possible, praise for effort rather than a final result, and encouraging engagement with topics through translation from the classroom into real-world situations are some ways of supporting motivation in learning overall.