College Student using Social Media

Generally, we talk about motivating students in terms of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.

Extrinsic motivation is concerned with academic achievement and refers to the students’ perception of participating in tasks for reasons such as grades, rewards, competition, and evaluation by others.

Intrinsic motivation is what social cognitivists prefer to call self motivation because they believe that individuals develop motivation from their self-efficacy perceptions rather than from the task itself (Schunk & Zimmerman, 1994).

Many ideas for the classroom have been developed to motivate students. Some believe that extrinsic motivators such as grades reduce intrinsic motivation.  But there are not many colleges ready to do away with grades. One of the best ways to develop intrinsic motivation is to help students develop goals (Bandura 1986).

Maehr (1991) suggest that instructors should arrange the learning environment in such a way as to promote personal motivation.

One popular method today for motivating students is to include learning strategies using Web 2.0. What is Web 2.0? Web 2.0 are web-based services that allow people to interact in communities. These Web 2.0 services include but are not limited to Learning Management Systems (LMS) such as Blackboard and social media networks. Many of these services are free.

The most popular social media tools are blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. These new teaching methods are powerful ways to engage students in the classroom content. Teachers use strategies for learning with social media to motivate students to academic achievement. Teachers are using social media tools to develop innovative ideas for the classroom. The old, tired methods of working with students can be updated and energized with new learning strategies using social media.

The social media strategy for the classroom that has been researched the most is blogs. Blogs can help students develop self-regulation strategies by helping students to set goals and to record their progress toward their goals. Blogs are a great tool for helping students learn to summarize and analyze content. Blogs help students develop their critical thinking skills and their writing skills.

Young people love social media and older people are jumping on the bandwagon. Education for students is more fun using the tools that students use and enjoy. Nielsen reports that people spend more time on Facebook than anywhere else on the web. Another statistic of the report showed that Americans spend 23% of their time online using blogs or social networks.  Why not explore these strategies for learning? Yes, there are some precautions for both faculty and students. But social media opens the door to teaching methods and learning strategies that need to be researched and explored.

How have you used social media in the classroom to motivate your students? I appreciate your comments.

• http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20105184-93/facebook-sucks-up-americans-time/ (Eric Mack)
• Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundation of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
• Maehr, M. L. (1991, April). Changing the schools: A word to school leaders about enhancing student investment in learning. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago.
• Schunk, D. H., & Zimmerman, B. J. (1994). Self-regulation of learning and performance. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.