Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
How can educators promote intrinsic motivation among their students when students seem overwhelmingly focused on grades? This book provides an explanation of the fundamental obstacle to intrinsic engagement in college (and other) courses, an overemphasis on grades and rewards, and the underlying reasons for this common state of affairs. It raises the central questions of whether student task-engagement can flourish in the context of courses in which students are graded and thus strive for higher grades, and asserts that a reconciliation of external and intrinsic motivations can be achieved. The authors articulate a rationale, based in recent ground-breaking motivation research, for adopting engagement as a primary educational goal unto itself, above and beyond knowledge and skill acquisition. They then apply to college course design a powerful set of motivational principles and lay out a step-by-step blueprint for designing and reaching courses, drawing on authentic case studies from various disciplines.