Promoting Student Engagement and Motivation in Learning

"Extrinsic motivation (also known as external motivation) involves using rewards such as praise, stickers, or grades to encourage effort and engagement. Such extrinsic rewards can work to boost student motivation, and extrinsic motivation has its place, but it is often not enough to maintain engagement in the long term. Too often, the "external payoff" isn't enough to sustain efforts, especially when the task seems overwhelming."

"Intrinsic motivation (or internal motivation) comes from within. Interest, purpose, and personal meaning drive effort. Research has validated the connections between "non-cognitive factors" such as motivation, interest, curiosity, responsibility, determination, perseverance, student autonomy, and work habits. Notably, working in an online space requires more of these attributes and connections. Interest is a powerful motivator that can foster learning and enhance attention. After COVID, many educators struggled to reignite students' engagement."

"Using topics of personal interest creates greater engagement and motivation. There are specific strategies that can help foster engagement. Create SMART goals in the short term and link them to longer-term life goals. Engagement refers to the degree of attention, curiosity, or interest that a student shows when they are learning something new. Engagement can be fostered by different types of motivation-external motivation and internal motivation."

Engagement refers to the degree of attention, curiosity, or interest a student shows when learning. Engagement can be fostered by extrinsic rewards and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation uses praise, stickers, or grades and can boost effort but often fails to sustain long-term engagement, especially when tasks feel overwhelming. Intrinsic motivation arises from interest, purpose, and personal meaning and drives persistent effort. Research has validated links between non-cognitive factors—motivation, curiosity, responsibility, determination, perseverance, autonomy, and work habits—and learning outcomes. Online learning demands more of these attributes. Using learners' personal interests and setting short-term SMART goals tied to longer-term life goals enhances motivation and engagement.

Read at Psychology Today