Why do some students not feel motivated during workshop and how can this motivation be increased

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Why do some students not feel motivated during
workshop and how can this motivation be
increased? Anisa Dhimarko, Peer Leader The
City College of New York

• Deci and Ryans motivation theory
• Motivation can be seen as the engine that drives
  us - or fails to.
• The fact that some students wanted workshop to
  be worth more in order to attend class shows that
  students are lacking external motivation
• Students need to have self determination,
  competence, relatedness and autonomy in order to
  reach the zone of proximal development
• It is the group leaders job to promote these
  values among his/her students by
• Helping students see their achievement so far
• Assist students in articulating their thought
  process
• Encourage them to support each other
• Assist them in articulating their thought process

• Based on a survey among 40 students taking
  Chemistry 103 workshop
• If a student works with somebody that has less
  knowledge, he/she considers workshop a waste of
  time and does not have the motivation needed to
  make their workshop more productive
• Other students do not understand that workshop
  is a place where they are supposed to exercise
  their knowledge of the subject and develop their
  problem-solving abilities and not a tutoring
  session
• Some students feel that workshop should be worth
  more
• - so that students feel more obligated to attend
• - because they spend time and effort in workshop
• Other students feel that workshops should be
  worth less because
• - they do not think that another student should
  be in charge of part of their grade
• - they feel that they know the information
  already and do not want to attend
• LACK OF MOTIVATION

• Problems
• Certain students prefer to work individually and
  therefore find workshop a waste of time
• Different students find themselves in different
  levels of understanding of the subject and feel
  either lost or bored when forced to follow the
  workshops pace
• Many students feel that the workshop leader does
  not have the required knowledge of the subject
• Students sometimes just do not understand the
  material and need further tutoring
• Some students do not pay attention in workshop

Bibliography Deci, E. Ryan, R. (1991). A
Motivational Approach to the Self Integration in
Personality. In R. Dienstibier (Ed.), Nebraska
Symposiup on Motivation Vol. 38. Perspectives
on Motivation. Lincoln, NE University of
Nebraska. Perry, W. (1970). Forms of Intellectual
and Ethical Development in the College Years. New
York Hold, Rinehart, and Winston. Vygotsky, L.
(1987). The Collected Works of L.S. Vygotsky.
Robert W. Rieber Aaron S. Carton, Eds.,
translated by Norris Minnick. New York
Plenum. http//www.psych.rochester.edu/SDT/

• Conclusions
• While Deci and Ryans theory helps us in
  realizing what needs to be done in order to
  increase students internal motivation many other
  things can be done in order to increase their
  external motivation
• Make workshop count for a larger percentage of
  the grade
• Let students know in advance that workshop is
  not a tutoring session but a place where they can
  put their already gained knowledge into practice
• Have training for new workshop leaders and teach
  them the concepts of self determination,
  competence, autonomy and relatedness
• Have professors work more with the workshop
  groups and give out problems that will be useful
  to students when studying for the tests