Rethinking Student Motivation

In Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns, the book I coauthored with Clayton Christensen and Curtis Johnson, we discuss how to transform the education system to customize learning for different student needs. We are now publishing a revised and expanded edition of that award-winning book, which includes a new chapter on student motivation among other updates.
Titled Rethinking Student Motivation, this paper explores how educators can crack the code on motivating students—which is crucial for learning—through the lens of the famous “jobs to be done” concept that Christensen pioneered. We assert that schools—just like businesses that are trying to make critical connections with their customers—must seek to understand what “jobs” students are trying to accomplish in their lives and answer the question, “What job might they hire schools to do?” Our research shows that the two core “jobs” students set out to do each day are “feel successful” and “have fun with friends,” but schools often fail at integrating these core jobs into their operations. We provide insight into how schools can change to enable students
to do these jobs through project-based learning, computer-based learning, and other innovations.

Here's a taste:



"One reason why we take an assertive position in Disrupting Class on the wisdom of using computer-based learning as the mechanism for achieving student-centric learning is that by the very nature of software, achievement can be integrated with the delivery of content in ways that help students fell successful while they learn, every day. Often this come in the form of reviews or examinations that are built into the software, which require students to demonstrate mastery before they can move to the next body of material. Feedback can be delivered frequently and in bite-sized pieces, as necessary, to help each student feel successful. In traditional monolithic batch instruction, in contrast, examinations are offered every few weeks. Then, because this
system is deigned to categorize students as excellent, average and below average, it causes most students not to feel successful as they learn."



I invite you to download an adaptation of that new chapter for free from our website. To download the paper, click here.
And to learn more about the second edition of Disrupting Class visit the Amazon page here.