Keywords

1 Introduction

A significant concern of a contemporary teacher seeking to integrate Web 2.0 into education is how to motivate students to engage in meaningful learning experiences and develop transferable skills . The use of social technologies for communicating and networking does not directly translate to its effective use in education (Cigognini et al. 2010; Kennedy et al. 2007; Narayan and Baglow 2010; Schulmeister 2010) . However, within well-established, sound pedagogical frameworks, Web 2.0 presents great opportunities for teaching and learning.

This chapter elucidates our approach to motivate and develop transferable skills in learners by leveraging the socio-constructivist inclinations of Web 2.0 tools. Intertwined in our approach is an awareness of the importance of scholarship in the digital age, such as copyright concerns and plagiarism, to encourage responsible use of technologies. An innovative learning design (see Fig. 6.1) based on a combination of the attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction (ARCS) model of motivation (Keller 1983) and the personal knowledge management (PKM) skills model (Cigognini et al. 2010) is used to:

Fig. 6.1
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An integrated model for motivation and skills development

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  1. 1.

    Purposefully integrate Web 2.0 technologies in assessment design to motivate access and increase flexibility.

  2. 2.

    Design an authentic task to motivate learner engagement .

  3. 3.

    Scaffold learning activities to motivate and facilitate the development of skills, such as communication and information literacy.

2 Characteristics of Our Learner: The Net Generation

Citizens of the Internet era, netizens (Hauben and Hauben 1997) are also referred to as the Net Generation (Tapscott 1998), Millennials (Howe and Strauss 2000) , Digital Natives (Prensky 2001) , or Generation Y. It is often assumed that because they are born in the digital age and use social technologies in everyday life, the Net Generation: (1) are familiar with, and have the technical skills to use most technologies effectively (Barnes et al. 2007) , and (2) prefer to learn with technologies that favour collaborative learning (Tapscott 2008).

Critical reviews of the evidence supporting the thesis of a Net Generation by Bennett et al. (2008) and Schulmeister (2010) dispute the existence of such a cohort, their unique characteristics, skills and learning preferences, based on the lack of empirical evidence. However, it is hard to ignore our students’ familiarity with technologies and the importance they place on “peer groups” and social relations. Even those against the broad categorisation, such as Schulmeister (2010), have conceded that communication is the major motive for youth’s engagement with technology and as such the social and experiential nature of Web 2.0 can be leveraged for education.

The categorisation of these individuals as a cohort with broadly generalised characteristics obstructs clarity in learning design endeavours because individual skills vary, as do learners’ abilities and willingness to apply these skills in educational contexts (Bennett et al. 2008; Datt and Aspden 2011) . While researchers like Don Tapscott are advocating changes to education in response to this distinct generation of multitasking, innovative individuals who are natural collaborators (Tapscott 2008), others such as Bennett et al. dismiss the need for a widespread change in educational approach as “moral panic” (Cohen 1972 cited in Bennett et al. 2008, p. 782). However, the fact remains and is acknowledged in the literature that today’s students were born in the digital age and most will have had exposure to the new social form of the web.

Task authenticity and skills development become integral parts of technology-integrated learning designs to address concerns of short attention spans (Oblinger and Oblinger 2005) , digital literacy , copyright and plagiarism. Short attention spans are attributed to boredom (Tapscott 2008; Prensky 2001) because of inauthentic learning experiences, making task authenticity (Conrad and Donaldson 2004; Elton 1994) an important aspect of motivational design. Digital literacy—the ability to search, retrieve, critically evaluate and appropriately use and reference material from electronic sources—is crucial in the academic environment due to concerns of copyright and plagiarism. It has become a skill commonly expected of a contemporary university graduate and is valued by employers (Suleman and Nelson 2011) . To facilitate the development of such skills, motivation for its development must be accounted for in effective learning designs as represented by our integrated model in Fig. 6.1.

3 Web 2.0 Integrated Teaching and Learning

Web 2.0, the read–write form of the Internet , is built on the concept of collaboration and takes to heart the socio-constructivist approach to education. Socio-constructivists believe that knowledge is co-constructed during active social learning experiences like group work (Smith and Ragan 1999, p. 15). Hence, the potential for active, engaging and personally relevant educational experiences afforded by Web 2.0 includes opportunities for educators to promote greater student participation, engagement and collaboration . Such uses, both current and potential, are well documented (Bates 2010; Bower et al. 2009; Datt and Aspden 2011; March 2007; Lee and McLoughlin 2010) .

Web 2.0 tools alone do not teach or result in effective or meaningful learning. Poor use of such contemporary technologies means that the traditional methods of teaching and learning are being repackaged without adding any pedagogical efficacy (Laurillard 2002; Lee and McLoughlin 2010) . A pedagogical framework (Pedagogy 2.0- McLoughlin and Lee 2010) addressing participation, personalisation and productivity, has evolved alongside Web 2.0, to equip those educators rethinking their practices. Since the focus is on communication, conceptual models, such as the conversational framework (Laurillard 2002) and the five-stage model of moderation (Salmon 2011), provide helpful frameworks for educational experiences that hinge on the social aspects of the web. These also reinforce the need to scaffold the learning experience to engage and motivate learners to move beyond social interaction to achieve collaborative cognitive gains.

Support and guidance are needed to enable successful transference of Net Geners’ social interaction and networking skills to education (Bennett et al. 2008; Cigognini et al. 2010; Haythornthwaite and Andrews 2011; Kennedy et al. 2007; Narayan and Baglow 2010) . Embedding information literacies into the curriculum is one of the ways in which this is being addressed (Gunn et al. 2011) .

4 The Role of Motivation in Learning Designs

Motivation, in its simplest form, explains “what goals people choose to pursue and how actively or intensely they pursue them” (Keller 2010, p. 4) . Detailing it within the various psychological theories is beyond the scope of this chapter. Instead, the focus is on the first principles of motivational design for e-learning , (Keller 2008; Keller and Suzuki 2004) underpinned by the ARCSmodel of motivation. ARCS was formulated by John M Keller (1983), and takes a holistic approach informed by the four major categories of motivational theory—physiological, behavioural, cognitive and emotional.

Motivational design is important because technology-integrated teaching and learning demands higher levels of student motivation than traditional forms of learning (Illeris 2007 cited in Haythornthwaite and Andrews (2011, p. 53) . The differing levels of digital literacy and skills of Net Geners aside, a multitude of factors, including learning style preferences that influence motivation, compound the challenge of designing an engaging learning task. Therefore, it is common for educators to put this in a “too hard to tackle” basket and assume no responsibility for motivating their learners (Keller and Litchfield 2002, p. 86).

While students are ultimately responsible for the personal aspects of their motivation, educators can have a positive influence by incorporating motivational design principles into their learning activities (Keller and Litchfield 2002) . According to Keller and Litchfield (2002, p. 86), this can only be achieved using the following assumptions: (1) various factors external to the learning environment can influence motivation (Haythornthwaite and Andrews 2011) , (2) motivation is a means not an end and (3) systematic design can influence motivation irrespective of the learning or teaching style (Toohey 1999, p. 17) .

5 An Integrated Model for Motivation and Skills Development

An integrated approach (Fig. 6.1) leverages the overlap between the principles of motivational design, the categories of the PKM skills model and the concept of information literacy. Components of ARCS represent the teachers’ efforts in facilitating the development of PKM and information literacy skills . Actual skills are dependent on students’ performance, which is consistent with Keller’s macro model of motivation and performance (Keller 2010) . Searching the web for accurate information is activated by capturing the learner’s attention, e.g. a topic of interest or an inquiry. Retrieval depends on the demonstration of its relevance, e.g. an authentic task or a group’s shared knowledge. Confidence to apply knowledge or skills, e.g. role taking for collaboration, develops through scaffolding . Satisfaction is gained from integrating skills and knowledge for benefits, e.g. transferable skills or rewards/marks in assessment. The extent of satisfaction is dependent on individual learners. The model is explained further in the next section.

WebQuests that guide the search, retrieval and use of information from the web, based on an authentic task, are a useful strategy in this integrated approach. WebQuests were originally designed for K-12 courses by Berni Dodge (www.webquest.org). Its critical constructs—scaffolding , social interaction and constructivist problem solving—make it useful for motivational design (Abbitt and Ophus 2008; Datt and Aspden 2011; March 2007; Jonassen et al. 2003, p. 65; Zheng et al. 2008) and online teaching in higher education (Zheng et al. 2008) . Its conceptual framework also “passes the ARCS filter” (March 2007) .

6 Applying the Integrated Model in Principles-Based Motivational Design

The integrated model of motivational design depicted in Fig. 6.1 informed the design of the undergraduate pharmacy course summarised in Table 6.1. Carefully chosen Web 2.0 technologies were integrated in a collaborative task, aiming to provide students an opportunity to (1) consolidate and build on the medical information searching, referencing and communication themes introduced earlier in the course and (2) practice key skills and competencies of their profession.

Table 6.1 Principles and relevant motivational design strategies for P101
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The School of Pharmacy at the University of Auckland recruits around 100 students into their programme each year. Sometimes, the first year group assignment occurs over a university break causing logistical difficulties for some students. In response to this need, an appropriate blend of technologies (see Datt and Aspden 2011) was introduced to allow students to access and complete the assignment flexibly and collaboratively. The components of the assignment are described in Table 6.2. Design details based on respective principles of motivational design (given in Table 6.1) are explained below.

Table 6.2 Components of the assessed task in P101
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6.1 Principles 1 and 2: Arouse Learner’s Curiosity and Meaningfully Relate Knowledge to their Goal

The whole assignment is presented as a WebQuest on attractive media-rich, user-friendly web pages located on the course website (see Fig. 6.2). The tasks are framed around a commission from a chronic medical condition associated charity to produce a fully referenced web page, an 8-minute oral presentation and a support hand-out. The real-world relevance of this well-defined collaborative assessment task consolidates its authenticity (Lombardi 2007) .

Fig. 6.2
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P101 WebQuest webpage

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Pharmacy students are aware of the increasing prevalence of many chronic medical conditions amongst the New Zealand population and indeed globally. Therefore, the tasks give students an opportunity to research conditions that many of their future clientele may have.

The assignment also aligns with the competence standards for the pharmacy profession in New Zealand, which include the abilities to research and provide information and to communicate with different stakeholders appropriately and effectively, both orally and in writing. Professional communication skills are practiced in the design of the web pages that aim to increase public awareness of the prevalence and social implications of a medical condition. Students also get an opportunity to apply this skill by eliciting donations to help further their charity’s work. A self-reflection exercise, scaffolding students through thinking about and articulating their learning from the assignment, including the teamwork aspect, is included as part of the assignment. This mimics the continuing professional development process expected of pharmacists once in practice.

6.2 Principle 3: Support and Guide Learner to Succeed

The WebQuest is designed to lead students through the assignment tasks and stages in a non-overwhelming, easy to follow, logical stepwise manner. Group members are announced during workshops and time is given for them to make initial introductions and swap contact details. The whole assignment is then introduced by the course coordinator during a lecture. The assignment web page is displayed on-screen and important tasks and resources are pointed out and initial questions answered.

Listening to a prerecorded online lecture is the first of the tasks in the assignment, which requires students to practice, refine and demonstrate competence in skills which build on concepts of communication, including health literacy and medical information retrieval, already introduced, discussed and practiced during earlier lectures and workshops in the course. Links to resources describing group work processes and how to manage common problems arising during group work are also provided. The group process is described by Stefani and Tariq (1996) as more important than the product. Therefore, in addition to the online material, a face-to-face question and answer session to address any issues with the technical, academic and group work aspects of the assignment is held midway through the assignment. To ensure that this session provides maximum benefit, students are strongly encouraged to have attempted to use all the Web 2.0 applications provided for the assignment so that they are aware of areas of difficulty or uncertainty. At this session, examples of work created in previous years are also displayed.

6.3 Principle 4: Provide Feedback and Rewards

The assignment consists of individual and group-assessed components including a real-time student-evaluated competition at its culmination. Comprehensive rubrics describing the assessment criteria for web pages and oral presentations are provided on the website. Marks are awarded for the completion of some individual tasks, the quality of the major individual task and all the group tasks. Written feedback is given on all tasks by the assessor, once the assignment has ended .

Students are “motivated by the knowledge that there is an audience” McConnell (2006, p. 139) . Peer feedback, congruent with the purpose of the charity’s commission, is given on the day of the oral presentations. Each student is given imitation money (1 x $10, $20 and $50) and instructed to vote for the best presentations in their session, by donating their money accordingly. Students cannot vote for their own presentation but they can choose how to distribute their money. Students are also expected to listen attentively and ask questions at the end of each presentation. This is motivating as group marks are awarded by the assessor for response quality, which can also strongly influence student voting. “Students Choice” award certificates and small prizes of gold chocolate bars are then presented to members of the winning group at the end of each presentation session.

An incentive for equitable participation in the assignment is addressed by the requirement that at the conclusion of the assignment each student has to complete and submit a document detailing what they contributed to the assignment and estimating the overall percentage contribution of each group member to the group assignment with group marks allocated accordingly. Also, once the assignment has closed, students are given access to all the student group web pages created during the assignment to allow comparisons with those created by other groups with the same condition. It is also a self-directed learning opportunity for students to learn more about the different conditions presented .

Overall, the principles of motivational design are used to present a well-scaffolded , authentic assessment task that enabled students to learn what they needed to learn, while also encouraging them to develop transferable skills. “[G]iven the dynamics of motivation, there is an overlap between principles,” (Pintrich 2003, p. 672) where implementing one may facilitate more than one component of motivation. As highlighted by Pintrich (2003), the design principles are merely a general guide, and their implementation may be influenced by different contexts including the institution and the discipline.

7 Student Feedback

Feedback about many aspects of the assignment was sought from participating students for three successive years from 2011. Minor modifications to the design were made after each iteration—informed by both student and teacher comments and observations. Overall, however, the feedback regarding the assignment has been positive and most responding students have spent the expected number of hours completing the assignment, learned from and enjoyed the experience .

Responding students have consistently rated the collaborative space as the most enjoyable tool of the assignment, suggesting a preference for the use of collaborative technologies such as wikis. In the most recent survey, 69 % of responding students indicated confidence in the future educational use of collaborative spaces. In addition, the quality of the web pages produced by most groups was high. This supports the logic of including aspects of skills development into the course design as represented by our integrated model (Fig. 6.1). Use of the WebQuest strategy for structuring the assessment task has proved extremely useful. (72 %) of the same responding student cohort agreed or strongly agreed that the WebQuest contained enough guidance for them to complete the assignment without further instructions from the course coordinator. Although the response rate for the 2013 voluntary survey was low (25 %), a lack of e-mails and questions to the course coordinator about the assignment and the high standard of work produced by most groups suggests the usefulness of support and guidance in motivational design .

8 Conclusion

Though Netizens are considered to be tech savvy “natural collaborators”, contemporary teachers seeking to integrate social technologies into education still face the crucial question of how to motivate their students to engage in meaningful learning experiences and develop transferable skills. Researchers present competing views on the need for educational change to accommodate Net Geners’ skills, abilities and preferences. Our findings support the thoughts of Bennett et al. (2008) and others that the individual technological aptitudes, confidence and experience of the students vary substantially, and that successful learning designs need to cater for differences within cohorts by providing various methods for learning and achieving goals. Motivational design is relevant because technology-integrated teaching and learning demands higher levels of student motivation than traditional forms of learning (Haythornthwaite and Andrews 2011) . Regularly seeking feedback from students is strongly recommended to avoid teachers making learning-design decisions based on generalised assumptions about their students that may not hold true.

The social and experiential nature of Web 2.0 can no doubt be leveraged for education, but support and guidance are needed to enable successful transference of Net Geners’ social interaction and networking skills to education. Digital literacy has become a skill that is commonly expected of a contemporary university graduate, so its development needs to be facilitated. This chapter presented an integrated approach that leverages the overlap between the principles of motivational design, the categories of the PKM skills model and the concept of information literacy. WebQuests that guide the search, retrieval and use of information from the web, based on an authentic task, are a useful strategy in this integrated approach.

While students are ultimately responsible for the personal aspects of their motivation, educators can have a positive influence by incorporating motivational design principles into their learning activities (Keller and Litchfield 2002) . Overall, to influence Netizens’ motivation, we must ensure that the learning tasks are authentic, well scaffolded, assessed and provide feedback and information about where skills can be transferred to beyond the actual learning environment. The integrated model presented here can be an effective way to motivate student engagement while encouraging the development of transferable skills in technology-integrated teaching and learning.