Increasing motivation in groups

There are lots of theories about motivation. Here are some ways to think about what you can do as an educator to increase motivation and help participants to achieve their goals.

In a DAFNE course we use the Expectancy – Value Theory where:

We also use a confidence rating scale (1–10) and an importance rating scale (1–10). Where both these scores are high, motivation will also be high. If a score is low, we can ask ‘what would help to make the score go up?’

The answer may help to identify which parts of the course might be most useful to a participant, or how our actions and attitudes might help a participant get the most out of the course.

Educators can help to increase motivation by:

• Getting and keeping participant attention
  • Arouse curiosity
  • Share a surprising piece of information
  • Say something provocative (but not inflammatory)
  • Use gentle humour (not directed at a group member)
  • Involve the participants in an activity
  • Ask a question to promote discussion
• Highlighting relevance
  • Draw from the group’s experience
  • Connect what you are teaching with life experiences
  • Let them know what they can ‘take away’ and use immediately
  • Let them know what will be useful in the long term
• Building confidence
  • Be clear about what is expected so that there are no surprises.
  • Don’t make the course more difficult than it needs to be: follow the timetable so that sessions build in difficulty as the course progresses. Don’t move a session from the end of the course to the beginning – sessions build on successes in previous sessions.
  • Provide opportunities for success through activities and scenarios, so that participants can demonstrate their understanding.