Building Expertise: Cognitive Methods for Training and Performance Improvement

Chapter 16. Motivating Your Learners

Would you persuade, speak of interest, not of reason.

—BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 1734

IN CHAPTER 15,

we saw that motivation relies on a set of beliefs that fuel the selection of productive goals. How can instructional professionals promote productive beliefs and goals? In this chapter, I will summarize specific motivational techniques you can use in order to:

• Build beliefs of self-confidence and self-control

• Encourage goals that focus on learning progress

• Build lessons high in cognitive interest

• Make lesson relevance salient

Instructional Environments That Motivate

Expertise depends on a self-regulatory performance cycle that includes (1) choosing a learning activity, (2) setting productive goals, (3) investing effort congruent ...