learnability matters

John M. Keller is a professor of instructional systems and educational psychology. He is currently employed as the Program Coordinator in Florida State University. In the 1970s, John Keller was intrigued by the fact that some learners study harder than the others and are thus more successful. He refused to believe that these learners were smarter or more gifted than the others. Keller believed that motivation played a crucial role in the learning process. He designed the ARCS Model. This model can use incorporated within Gagne’s nine events of instructions. It cannot be used as a standalone system of instructional design.

ARCS is an acronym for Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction. Let us look at each factor.

Attention

Gain and maintain the learner’s attention. This also happens to be Gagne’s first step in nine events of instruction. The attention strategies that Keller proposed are:

• Incongruity and Conflict
  • State a fact that contradicts prior experience
  • Introduce two facts out of which only one is true
  • Be the devil’s advocate
• Concreteness
  • Use visuals to depict relationships
  • Provide examples for concepts and principles
  • Use case studies and anecdotes
• Variability
  • Vary the format of instruction and presentation
  • Use different media of instruction
  • Use visuals, tables, and so on to reduce text
• Humor
  • Use humorous introductions
  • Use humor in analogies and summaries
• Inquiry
  • Use innovative methods to make the learner relate to the content
  • Insert problem-solving activities
  • Provide learner with opportunities to select projects and assignments that interest them
• Participation
  • Use games, role play, simulations to ensure learner involvement

Relevance

The key to maintaining learner motivation is to ensure that the learner understands the relevance of training. The learner should be made aware of how he/she will benefit from the course. The relevance strategies that Keller proposed are:

• Experience
  • State the skills that the learner will acquire
  • Use analogies that the learner can relate to from his/her prior experience
  • Gain information about your learner’s interests
• Present Worth
  • State clearly the immediate benefits of taking the course
• Future Usefulness
  • State clearly how the skills the learner will acquire will help him/her in the future
  • Ask the learners to relate the content to their own goals
• Need Matching
  • Provide opportunities for learner to excel in moderate risk
  • Give the learner a feeling of ‘power’ by giving him/her responsibility, authority, and interpersonal influence
• Modeling
  • Appoint those who have finished taking the course as deputy tutors
  • Model enthusiasm for the subject
• Choice
  • Provide alternative methods to reach a goal
  • Ensure that the learner has control over his/her learning path

Confidence

The learners may get intimidated by the objectives stated if they believe that they may not be able to meet them. We need to build confidence in the learner to ensure that he/she takes the course. The confidence strategies that Keller proposed are:

• Learning Requirements
  • Clearly state the learning objectives
  • Assessments should be directly linked to the learning objectives
  • Explain the criteria for evaluation of performance
• Difficulty
  • Lessons should be from simple to complex
  • Provide ‘conquerable’ challenges for the learner
• Expectations
  • State the chances of success and the amount of effort involved
  • Help the learners set realistic goals
• Attributions
  • Attribute success to effort rather than luck
  • Encourage the learner to judge his/her own actions
• Self-Confidence
  • Allow the learner to apply their newly acquired skills
  • Test new skills in low-risk conditions
  • Test well-learned skills in real life situations
  • Make the learner feel good when he/she accomplishes a task

Satisfaction

The learner should be satisfied with the learning experience. After completing the course, the learner should feel a sense of achievement. The satisfaction strategies that Keller proposed are:

• Natural Consequences
  • Learner should be able to use his/her skill in a real situation
  • Provide reward in terms of praise for acquiring a skill
• Unexpected Reward
  • Reward interesting tasks with unexpected rewards
  • Reward mechanical or boring tasks
• Positive Outcomes
  • Praise the leaner on success of smaller milestones
  • Provide informative, constructive feedback
  • Provide motivating feedback after a task is performed
• Negative Outcomes
  • Avoid threatening the learner to perform a task
  • Let the learner evaluate his/her own choice
• Scheduling
  • Provide frequent reinforcements while teaching a new concept
  • Provide intermittent reinforcements when the learner is familiar with the concept
  • Vary reinforcements across the course

According to Keller, the instructor must address each component of motivation sequentially. Satisfaction and confidence are linked with each other and are interdependent. Many claim that ARCS model is an easy-to-apply, heuristic approach to increasing motivation. Keller attempted to translate research theories on motivation to an approach that can be applied while designing instruction. ARCS is an approach that can be considered when designing instruction.

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