Understanding motivation is one of the most important things we can do in our lives, because it has such a bearing on why we do the things we do and whether we enjoy them or not. ~Clayton M. Christensen
One of the topics I studied in grad school is motivation, particularly in online learning. I thought I’d share with you some of the thoughts I included in a past assignment, revised to reflect current time, to give you some points to consider.
As human beings, we have all been motivated to act in different areas. It may be to start a new hobby or pick one back up again that we paused doing for a time. Perhaps it’s finally taking the initiative to reorganize the basement. Or maybe it’s looking at the health benefits that can motivate us to activate a gym membership. When it comes to learning, motivation is an important element that continues to be studied. Educators and researchers have looked at how learning can be further developed to motivate individuals to participate in key courses and maintain engagement throughout the learning experience.
Motivation is a key element of learning that includes online and blended learning environments. With technology advancements in the workplace and an increase in companies moving to global teams and flexible working arrangements, more employees have the need to complete required and optional training outside of the traditional classroom setting. When considering design of remote and on-demand computer courses for employees, motivation factors should be considered. Established theories can be reviewed to identify those factors and increase learner motivation for both required and self-directed learning opportunities for workers.
For teaching and learning, motivation is an important component. Learners, whether in school or the workplace will respond to concepts and activities that they are interested in learning more about or that are connected to their personal goals, aspirations, and experiences. Teachers and trainers are therefore challenged with delivering relevant and engaging content that keeps learners involved and excited about what is being taught.
From the courses and research I completed in my doctoral program, I learned the importance of considering the types of motivation that should be addressed when researching retention outcomes and team development in remote settings. For companies offering hybrid or full remote working arrangements to attract and retain talent, training teams will need to focus on curriculum that not only can be delivered remotely but will keep learners engaged throughout the entire course. This will require identifying the interests of learners and the appropriate type of motivation to address for each course, building relevant scenarios into courses that can be applied back on the job, and considering activities that provide opportunities for intrinsic and extrinsic incentive to further motivation learners to take an active part in learning.
In my current role, our team develops training for an external audience that is not required to complete any of our courses or attend the webinars we offer. For us, our goal is to address their learning needs from the perspective of making it easier to do business with us. We take feedback we receive from learner surveys and discuss with SMEs to consider their work setting and what they need to be able to do to submit the requests and information to us that tie to those roles. One thing we’ve discovered is that their roles have become increasingly demanding and many are being cross trained to perform additional tasks outside of what they were hired to do. Their time is limited and they do not want to spend extra time reviewing a training course to find that one thing to help them work with us. To address this, we have continued to move towards micro-learning modules that offer just-in-time training that doesn’t get in the way of the entire work day.
Understanding the types of motivation that can be connected to workplace learning will provide insight and potential connections to how a learner’s motivation may be related to course retention rates and transfer of learning on the job. Are courses that are relevant to an employee’s career development found to be more engaging? How does the level of learner engagement in the overall course design affect employee motivation? Are employees that are more motivated by career development scoring higher on specific courses? Is learning transfer happening despite the motivation levels of an employee to use the knowledge and skills gained from a particular course? Does leadership support during learning transfer affect motivation? These are key questions that are not new, but ones we continue to ask as we look at the future of learning in a hybrid work world.
For those in learning and development, how have you been able to motivate learners to participate in your training courses? What opportunities have been presented to you to increase motivation? Share your experiences in the comments!
The Secret Sauce 