Over the past several years I have struggled with a
particular teacher resisting the use of technology to aide her communication
with parents and staff members. On the outside she seems to have a desire to
use technology to improve her effectiveness in communication. However, she
seems to lack the required motivation to attempt to grow in her communication
skills. During this same time period she has learned to effectively use our
school software for lesson plans and grades. Her attitude toward the whole
situation seems to be that every time she attempts to use her computer to
communicate she is at war with the computer. She becomes very angry and
frustrated with her own inability to quickly navigate this type of situation. I
believe that this teacher lacks the necessary motivation to press through the
early stages of learning this new skill.
Keller (1983) describes
“four conditions for motivation that must be met to have a motivated learner” (Keller, 1993 as
cited by Driscoll, 2005 p. 333). The conditions are attention, relevance,
confidence, and satisfaction (Driscoll, 2005 p. 333). If I am going to assist this teacher in
further developing her skills I must guide her to the point where she reaches
these four steps to become a motivated learner. First her attention must be
captured. This could possibly be accomplished by demonstrating a simple
shortcut to begin the communication process. Next the relevance of this type of
skill will need to be demonstrated. I believe that she has a limited perception
of the importance of successful communication skills. She might benefit from a
demonstration of how she can become even more effective by improving her
communication skills. In the area of confidence she has been given specific
tasks to complete within close proximity to someone who can assist her. I feel
that her confidence will be boosted when she is able to complete important
tasks with limited assistance. Finally she will become motivated to continue
working on her communication skills when she is able to achieve a small level
of clear success.
Reference
Driscoll, Marcy P. (2005). Psychology
of Learning for Instruction XML Vitalsource ebook for Laureate Education, 3rd
Edition. Pearson Learning Solutions.
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