One of the major themes in my work of the last decade or two has been motivation and, in particular, the systemic ways that it can be distorted or broken by our educational systems. It is deeply bizarre that what is perhaps our most primal desire – to learn – can become a chore, considered unpleasant enough that we need to create rewards and punishments to coerce people into doing it, and that the institutions we create for supporting it result as often as not in people with a lifelong aversion to at least one subject. This is, arguably, the biggest problem that professional educators and learners need to solve. Much of my thinking on the subject is heavily influenced by self-determination theory and its cousins (especially Alfie Kohn’s work, and the concept of Flow), which usually provides the framing for what I have written. Here are some posts that discuss this problem and, sometimes, propose solutions.
2024
The importance of a good opening line
New article from Gerald Ardito and me – The emergence of autonomy in intertwingled learning environments: a model of teaching and learning
Educational ends and means: McNamara’s Fallacy and the coming robot apocalypse (presentation for TAMK)
2023
Preprint – The human nature of generative AIs and the technological nature of humanity: implications for education
Cognitive prostheses and the future of the human race
2022
Some meandering thoughts on ‘good’ and ‘bad’ learning
Slides from my ICEEL 22 Keynote, November 20, 2022
Can GPT-3 write an academic paper on itself, with minimal human input?
Ernst & Young fined $100 million after employees cheated in exams
Solving The Wrong Problems: Why Online Education Is and Must Be Different from In-Person Education – slides from my invited talk at ICEMI 2022
English version of my 2021 paper, “Technology, technique, and culture in educational systems: breaking the iron triangle”
Brunel University’s Integrated Programme Assessment – a neat way to decouple learning and credentials
2021
Higher Education: an Owner’s Guide – slides from my Times Higher Ed Student Festival keynote
Challenges of the Physical: slides from my keynote at XII Conferência Internacional de Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação na Educação, September 2021
Mediaeval Teaching in the Digital Age (slides from my keynote at Oxford Brookes University, May 26, 2021)
Educational technology: what it is and how it works | AI & Society
2020
How distance changes everything: slides from my keynote at the University of Ottawa
Joyful assessment: beyond high-stakes testing
Evaluating assessment
2018
Mindfulness Meditation Impairs Task Motivation but Not Performance
Beyond learning outcomes
DT&L2018 spotlight presentation: The Teaching Gestalt
2017
Addicted to learning or addicted to grades?
Study links student cheating to whether a course is popular or disliked
Infants make more attempts to achieve a goal when they see adults persist
Highly praised children are more inclined to cheat
Not true: coding bootcamps you can take online are an “oxymoron” no one has yet solved
Strategies for successful learning at AU
Professor Jon Dron | Beyond Busy
Our educational assessment systems are designed to create losers
Every attempt to manage academia makes it worse
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation
Alfie Kohn: “It’s bad news if students are motivated to get A’s” – YouTube
2016
The cost of admission to the unlearning zone
Demotivating students with participation grades
Understanding the response to financial and non-financial incentives in education: Field experimental evidence using high-stakes assessments
‘Rote learning, not play, is essential for a child’s education’ – seriously?
Activity trackers flop without cash motivation – Futurity
Recording of my TCC2016 keynote: The Distributed Teacher
Research reveals the dark side of wearable fitness trackers
Learning and the Kardashians
2015
Cheerful to a Fault: “Positive” Practices with Negative Implications – Alfie Kohn
Over two dozen people with ties to India’s $1-billion exam scam have died mysteriously in recent months
Exam focus damaging pupils’ mental health, says NUT – BBC News
The death of the exam: Canada is at the leading edge of killing the dreaded annual ‘final’ for good | National Post
Smart learning – a new approach or simply a new name? | Smart Learning
How Do You Motivate Kids To Stop Skipping School?
The new axis of evil — Canada: One third of American 8th graders think we live in a dictatorship
Why do we not ban use of cellphones in online learning?
Hacking Our Brains: Motivating Others By Snatching Back Rewards
What Maslow’s Hierarchy Won’t Tell You About Motivation
2014
Multiple types of motives don’t multiply the motivation of West Point cadets
Good chapter on getting rid of grades
2009
What exams have taught me