Reflection

The most surprising part of the course for me was the Keller’s ARCS model. Of course everyone knows that before you begin to solve a problem you first have to determine what the problem is. I know the best instructors I have had motivated me, as well as the rest of the students, to drive harder and learn more. The four factors Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction contain the necessary analysis to determine what motivational tactics are needed to solve the problems. Studying the way the brain learns has helped me understand why I learn some things with less effort. The rehearsal and repetition works for a short time while adding pictures makes retrieval of the information easier and for a longer time period. Taking the most appropriate parts of the cognitive and behavioral learning theories in design stages of a curriculum is using the best of both worlds. Kerr says that "each ism is offering something useful without any of them being complete or stand alone in their own right" and I agree, use what you need from any for the “ism’s” for the best results. The connection between learning theories, learning styles, educational technology, and motivation has added a new dimension with the advances in educational technology and increase in distance learning. The norm was face to face instruction were the instructor could visually gage the target audience’s need for a change in tactics to keep them motivated and on target. The growing online classrooms are making the instructors work harder to insure the effective motivational tactics are employed to insure the optimum learning experience. I believe I will be working with adult learners in an online environment and the Keller’s ARCS model will be one of the most valuable tools I will have to keep the learners motivated.