MOTIVATION CASE ANALYSIS #1 SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY

Douglas C. Strahler GFDE 520: Motivation in Education Dr. Peterson

October 07, 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS................................................................................................................ ii   MOTIVATION CASE OVERVIEW ............................................................................................. 1   The Learner......................................................................................................................... 1   Learning Context ................................................................................................................ 1   Learning Goals.................................................................................................................... 2   Motivational Goals.............................................................................................................. 2   Evidence of Goal Achievement .......................................................................................... 3   My Learning Goals ............................................................................................................. 3   ANALYSIS USING THEORY AND RESEARCH....................................................................... 5   PROPOSED MOTIVATIONAL STRATEGIES ........................................................................... 6   Applying Modeling in the Classroom................................................................................. 6   Applying Model Characteristics in the Classroom ............................................................. 8   Applying Reciprocal Teaching in the Classroom ............................................................... 9   Applying Goal Setting in the Classroom .......................................................................... 10   BELIEFS ABOUT LEARNING AND MOTIVATION .............................................................. 11   REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 14  

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MOTIVATION CASE OVERVIEW The Learner This motivational case will examine undergraduate students at Slippery Rock University enrolled in my Social Media course. Students in this course are taking it for their major or as an elective and are primarily students pursuing a degree in Communication. There are a few students who are Sports Management and Computer Science majors enrolled in the course. The learners range from 19-22 years old. Most of the students in my course have experience using social media tools for personal use and a few have used these tools for professional use.

Learning Context The Social Media course will examine the impact of social media networking in society. Specifically, this course will provide students with an understanding of and a professional approach to using social media tools in their field. We will examine both the technological and theoretical perspectives of social media through the hands-on application of the technologies and through reading scholarly writings. Students will be required to complete significant writing assignments, data collection, and formal presentations. There will also be quizzes and examinations. Twitter is integrated into the curriculum to not only teach them how to use a tool prevalent in society today, but as a learning tool for the course. As current events arise, course readings will be tweeted to them, since there is no required textbook for the course. In addition, students can use this a way to communication with classmates and the instructor, as well as conducting and moderating a group Twitter chat one evening at some point throughout the semester. 1

Learning Goals •

Students will be able to identify the social media tools characteristics and functionalities that best meet their goals for using that tool.

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Students will have a stronger theoretical understanding of how to use social media tools and why certain tools are successful.

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Students will demonstrate their understanding through the presentation of a social media case study and a paper/presentation on a social media strategy designed by their group.

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Students will become smarter users of social media, for both personal and professional purposes.

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Students will understand how to stay up-to-date with the latest trends in social media and news using social media tools.

Motivational Goals •

Students will be self-motivated to use Twitter to learn more effectively because of being socially connected with their peers, instructor, and personal network (connected classroom).

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Students will learn to develop usage schemas for Twitter through modeling processes.

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Students will increase self-efficacy to perform tasks on Twitter and in the classroom.

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Students will become more information literate at the end of this course.

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Students will be competent in conducting and moderating a Twitter chat, which will allow them to understand how to make their thoughts concise, network with others, and debate social media topics.

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Students will be motivated to develop their network of Twitter followers to met personal motivational goals.

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Student will feel more comfortable sharing their thoughts and feelings about relevant course material on Twitter.

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Students will be motivated to use Twitter as a communication channel to discuss group activities and projects.

Evidence of Goal Achievement •

I will assess self-motivation through student surveys on why they use Twitter for personal reasons, as well as academic purposes for this course.

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I will assess how students learn to use Twitter through examining their tweets and if they use the standards of Twitter usage (i.e. usage of symbols, 140 character limit, sharing links, etc.)

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I will assess the use of Twitter through surveys to see if they felt more connected with classmates and instructor through this channel.

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I will evaluate the use of Twitter by individual students during their groups Twitter chat.

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Students will be able to take concepts discussed in class and apply them to real world situations.

My Learning Goals •

I want to learn why students select Twitter as a communication channel over text messaging, phone call, e-mail or other social media channel (i.e. Facebook).

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I want to learn student’s perceptions on how/if instructors can leverage Twitter in educational settings.

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I want to learn student behaviors for using the tool in academic settings.

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I want to learn the reasons why students do not want to use Twitter or other social media tools.

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I want to learn if students were more motivated to check Twitter then the university learning management system for course updates and readings.

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ANALYSIS USING THEORY AND RESEARCH This motivation case analysis will examine the use of Twitter by college students in an upper-level Social Media course at Slippery Rock University. While this course teaches the theoretical and application of social media tools for personal and professional use, this case will analyze the varying motivational techniques used through the application of Social Cognitive Theory and Twitter. Education is now experiencing the influence Web 2.0 tools have on students and faculty. Ormiston (2011) believes with the array of technological tools for communication and collaboration drives interactions with people and has become a staple in today’s classrooms. Technology-based social networking is not going anywhere, so it is up to educators to determine the most effective ways to integrate these tools into the classroom and take advantage of the unique properties they have to offer. Chickering and Gamson (1987) stated, “Frequent studentfaculty contact in and out of classes is the most important factor in student motivation and involvement” (p. 3). One Web 2.0 tool, which allows you to have that frequent communication, is a micro-blog. A micro-blog is a “blog that contains brief entries about the daily activities of an individual or company. Created to keep friends, colleagues and customers up-to-date, small images may be included as well as brief audio and video clips” (PCMag.com, n.d.). These entries range from 140-200 characters and the individual(s) who participate in these environments are called “micro-bloggers.” According to the Educause Learning Initiative, “in mainstream culture, micro-blogging has become an extremely popular channel for both professional and personal pursuits” (EDUCAUSE, 2009). With Twitter being one of the most popular websites individuals

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visit (Alexa, 2012), this is one tool educators should consider adopting to assist in supplementing their course and examining the use through Social Cognitive Theory. Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) is based on people acquiring “knowledge, rules, skills, strategies, beliefs, and emotions by observing others” and “postulates that motivational processes influence both learning and performance” (Schunk, Pintrich & Meece, 2008, p. 125). By evaluating SCT and my use of Twitter, this paper will discuss how this can provide students an avenue to learning a popular Web 2.0 tool and through the integration of this tool into class activities, hopefully increase motivation to become more engaged with the course. The following section will examine different motivational strategies used on the basis of SCT and the use of Twitter.

PROPOSED MOTIVATIONAL STRATEGIES For my Social Media course at Slippery Rock University, I require students to have a Twitter account to be used for supplement to my course. This section will look at important insight for developing strategies to improve learning and motivation through the use of Twitter. It is important to note that this will look at motivational strategies for students to learn how to use Twitter, as well as strategies that can be adapted for the use of Twitter in education.

Applying Modeling in the Classroom Schunk, Pintrich & Meece (2008) refers to modeling as “behavioral, cognitive, and affective changes that result from observing one of more models (Bandura, 1969, 1989; Rosenthal & Bandura, 1978; Schunk, 1987)” (p. 129). “Observers often pattern their actions after those displayed by models of high status as defined by position, job responsibility, or social 6

standing” (Schunk, Pintrich & Meece, 2008, p. 132). In higher education, instructors play the role of mentors or models in promoting their student’s “personal growth and professional development” (Erkut & Mokros, 1984, p. 399). One form of modeling demonstrated in my course is response facilitation, which “occurs when modeled actions serve as social prompts for observers to behave accordingly” (Schunk, Pintrich & Meece, 2008, p. 129). As the instructor of the Social Media course, I require students to follow me on Twitter for a variety of reasons. The first is to establish an additional communication channel for them to contact me and I can share updates about the class. Response facilitation occurs when my students view my tweets. By following proper rules of etiquette on Twitter and demonstrating them to my students, I am providing them with social prompts on how to interact and communicate professionally using this tool. By demonstrating these behavioral cues, my goal is to show students how to appropriately use Twitter professionally and take full advantage of it’s functionalities for networking and communicating. In addition to myself acting as a model, I provide students with other individuals in the industry who have Twitter profiles and encourage my students to follow them. These individuals are some of the most influential and knowledgeable users of Twitter in the industry (Shaughnessy, 2012) and not only serve as model’s to the students, but provide them with valuable content knowledge. A second form of modeling is observational learning, where “modeling occurs when observers display new behaviors that prior to modeling had a zero probability of occurrence. Throughout the semester, I take time in class to walk through the different aspects of Twitter, so they are always learning about Twitter and how to use it for class. The main behavior that I encourage for the course is the sharing of articles, thoughts and opinions by using #srusm. This is 7

a hashtag, used to categorize tweets, and a way to curate the conversation on topics related to my course. Another major goal is to provide students with examples of negative consequences, which have occurred through the improper use of Twitter. This is accomplished through vicarious learning. Through lecture and links to stories posted to the course learning management system, I discuss instances where Twitter, or other social media tools, were used and caused negative consequence, such as being fired, disciplined, or emotional damaged. By showing students these examples, “consequences inform students of the likely outcome of their actions” (Schunk, Pintrich & Meece, 2008, p. 128).

Applying Model Characteristics in the Classroom One of the first tasks I am presented with is evaluating student’s knowledge level of Twitter the first week. As with any subject, I have students that enter the class with different competency levels when it comes to using Twitter, from beginners to novice users. A way to develop higher competency of using Twitter was mentioned through providing models, such as myself and other influencers in the industry. In order to motivate them to use Twitter, case studies can be presented to the students on positive outcomes that are relevant to the student’s life. After presenting real-life applications, I can allow for experienced Twitter users in the class discuss their experiences using Twitter. This will allow students who are beginners with guidelines to evaluate themselves too. According to Schunk, Pintrich & Meece (2008), “the best models may be students who are equal to or slightly more competent than observers” (p. 132). In order to encourage student’s to follow each other, I create a Twitter profile list of the entire class, so it is easier for them to connect. Twitter’s List function allows users to create lists 8

and add users to the list to better curate their tweets. When other students tweets appear in the Twitter feed of a beginner user, it can create higher levels of motivation to participate in discussion on Twitter through similar competences and perceived similarities in outcomes, which has an effect on self-efficacy. “Observing a peer model increased efficacy and achievement better than did observing a teacher model or not observing a model” (Schunk, Pintrich & Meece, 2008, p. 133). If students struggle with the use of Twitter or seeing how it connects with the course material, I provide them with opportunities to better their understanding with coping models. When I notice students who are failing to use it, my first thought is they need further knowledge on how to use it. On the course learning management system, I provide both textual and video tutorials – to address different learning styles – on how to use Twitter. If students begin to use it and I notice they are not using it properly, I send them a direct message – a message that can only be seen by that particular student – informing them of what they are doing wrong and how they can improve. Another great motivational factor for using Twitter is drawing student tweets into classroom discussion. By discussing student’s tweets, it demonstrates that I am paying attention to what they have to say and encouraging them to participate on Twitter. In addition, I will retweet what student’s post, if I find it valuable to the other students in the course or my network of followers in general.

Applying Reciprocal Teaching in the Classroom After the first year of teaching the course, I decided I needed a better way to evaluate student’s comprehension and competency of using Twitter. One of the approaches I came across 9

in my research for addressing these areas was reciprocal teaching, so I wanted the students to have the opportunity to play the role of teacher. “Research shows that reciprocal teaching leads to greater comprehension gains, better maintenance skills and strategies over time, and better generalization to classroom comprehension tasks, compared with traditional instruction” (Schunk, Pintrich & Meece, 2008, p. 138). The Twitter Chat assignment allows my students to conduct and moderate a chat on Twitter surrounding the topic of discussion in class that week. Students are divided up into groups – with different competency levels, so students can learn and become more engaged – and asked to select a week on a topic that interests their group. My class is broken down into weekly themes and by allowing students to select which week they want to run a chat; I am hoping there are more passionate and motivated about the topic. Leading up to their week, they get to select the date and time their chat will be held during that week and are responsible for promoting it. Students are asked to create a minimum of three questions related to the topic, then conduct and moderate their chat for an entire hour. This assignment should motivate them to network with others, communicate, gain a deeper understanding of content, and take ownership to the discussion. It is also important to show enthusiasm previous to the chat and during the chat in an effort to enhance the student’s learning and motivation towards the assignment.

Applying Goal Setting in the Classroom Every activity or assignment for any of my courses must have a fundamental purposes, so that is why I make sure to set learning goals for each activity or assignment. These goals are clearly stated on the assignment sheet, so students are aware of what they should be attaining 10

from completing that task. “Students with a goal and sense of self-efficacy for attaining it are apt to engage in activities they believe will lead to attainment: attend to instruction, rehearse information to be remembered, expand effort, and persist” (Schunk, Pintrich & Meece, 2008, p. 142). When I have them join Twitter, I tell them the some of the major goals of using this tool will be to increase communication amongst each other, networking with individuals at SRU and in the industry, and to become more information literate. In addition, I encourage my students to establish their own goals for using Twitter over the semester, such as reaching a certain number of followers or joining other Twitter chats to obtain further knowledge in a subject area that interests them. While some of these tasks can be challenging, a majority of them are obtainable. In relation to building self-efficacy, I am allows looking to communicate and provide feedback through student’s use of Twitter. Some students are hesitant to participate in class, but may feel more comfortable talking through Twitter. Whenever I notice the quieter students being more vocal about course subjects on Twitter, I make sure to acknowledge their comments and encourage them to talk about it in the next class. My goal is to increase classroom connectedness and establish an environment where students feel comfortable participating in an open discussion (both online and offline).

BELIEFS ABOUT LEARNING AND MOTIVATION Before analyzing my case using this motivation theory, I used to believe that student’s were only motivated to use Twitter for social value – tweeting with friends, following celebrities or parody accounts. After reading the textbook and doing additional research, I have learned that

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there are numerous motivational elements that can make students more engaged and increase learning (Junco, Heiberger & Loken, 2010; Messner, 2009). I believe that each individual student is unique in terms of motivation. Through the application of SCT and Twitter, that there are different motivational factors involved to why students can or want to use Twitter. Students have different competence levels in Twitter use and as an instructor, I must create environments that allow for modeling of appropriate behaviors, so beginners can learn from novice users and all students users can learn from professional models through the use of response facilitation and observational learning. I believe that motivation is a powerful tool to evaluate behavior. With each individual student being unique in terms of motivation, the use of Twitter allows to evaluate student’s behaviors of computer-mediated communication tools and how it relates to learning. It is important to remember that the goal of this analysis was not just to motivate students to use Twitter, but using Twitter as a tool to motivate students to learn the material for the course. With the popularity of Twitter amongst college students, this was the perfect opportunity to find a common ground and try to apply motivational tools to get them to engage in the course content. By observing each student’s Twitter usage, it allows the instructor to evaluate comprehension, acquired skill levels and improving self-efficacy (Schunk, Pintrich & Meece, 2008). This can all be accomplished by providing feedback to the students, in forms of performance-based and attributional feedback. The one thing I have learned from this analysis is to get a better understand to why Twitter is and isn’t an effect tool to motivate students to learn. I need to focus on collecting more attribution information from students in order to improve learning with Twitter or if it is truly not an effective supplement to education. 12

I believe that it is important to investigate intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors. Through the modeling process of SCT, I have learned the importance of investigating student’s intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors for their acceptance or rejection of Twitter for learning. By understanding these different factors, it can me improve my teaching and provide me with valuable feedback on how to future use of Twitter in my Social Media course, as well as other courses.

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REFERENCES Alexa. (2012). Twitter.com site info. Retrieved from http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/twitter.com Chickering, A. W., & Gamson, Z. F. (1987). Seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education. AAHE Bulletin 39(7), 3-7. Dugan, L. (2012, June 07). How do college students use twitter? [infographic]. Retrieved from http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/college-students-on-twitter_b23756 EDUCAUSE (2009). 7 things you should know about Microblogging. Retrieved from net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7051.pdf Erkut, S., & Mokros, J. R. (1984). Professors as models and mentors for college students. American Educational Research Journal, 21(2), 399-417. doi: 10.3102/00028312021002399 Junco, R., Heiberger, G., & Loken, E. (2010). The effect of twitter on college student engagement and grades. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 27(2), 119-132. doi: DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2729.2010.00387.x Messner, K. (2009). Pleased to Tweet You: Making a Case for Twitter in the Classroom. School Library Journal, 55(12), 44-47. Ormiston, M. (2011). Creating a digital-rich classroom: teaching & learning in a web 2.0 world. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press. PCMag.com (n.d.). Microblog definition. Retrieved from http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=microblog&i=58092,00.asp Schunk, D. H., Pintrich, P. R., & Meece, J. L. (2008). Motivation in education: Theory, research, and applications. (3rd ed., pp. 43-78). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

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Shaughnessy, H. (2012, January 25). Who are the top 50 social media power influencers?. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/haydnshaughnessy/2012/01/25/who-are-thetop-50-social-media-power-influencers/ Smith , A., & Brenner, J. (2012, May 31). Twitter use. Retrieved from http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Twitter-Use-2012/Findings.aspx

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