Project Website
About the Project
The intrinsic motivation (IM) course conversion project is about creating choices for students that will enable them to study and solve engineering problems that are personally meaningful to them. We hope that these IM course conversions will create courses that will inspire students to take ownership of their learning and give them the skills and motivation to become excellent engineers and people.
We also hope that these conversions will help make courses more enjoyable for the faculty to teach as the students will become more engaged and excited about their coursework. Get involved by taking part in some our initial pilot courses and giving us feedback, by helping us identify new courses that could use some change, or by getting involved as a peer mentor to students in other courses!
The intrinsic motivation (IM) course conversion project’s two primary goals are to change classrooms and teaching methods so that they promote students’ intrinsic motivation to learn and to create this change in ways that effectively and efficiently use faculty time and capacity.
Education reform commonly focuses on training faculty on ways to improve students’ learning. Consequently, reform efforts focus on asking faculty to produce new learning resources and learn new teaching methods.
In contrast, the IM course conversion project starts with the motivation literature and asks “how can we improve students’ intrinsic motivation to learn?” Based on the research of Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan, and mainstream syntheses such as Drive by Dan Pink, our goal is to promote students’ IM to learn by promoting students’ senses of autonomy, competence, relatedness, and purpose all while asking for minimal additional time and effort investments from the faculty.
We hope that these IM course conversions will create courses that will inspire students to make their learning their own and give them the skills and motivation to become excellent engineers and people. We also hope that these conversions will help make courses more enjoyable for the faculty to teach as the students will become more engaged and excited about their coursework.
Dr. Geoffrey L. Herman is the project lead. Kathryn Trenshaw and Kerri Green are supporting the project as graduate research assistants. The project is being advised by Dr. David Goldberg, Dr. Michael C. Loui, Dr. Mark Somerville (Olin College), and Dr. Jon Stolk (Olin College). The project is funded by the National Science Foundation DUE #1140554.
Publications.
Herman, G. L., Goldberg, D. E., Trenshaw, K. F., Somerville, M., & Stolk, J. (in submission). The intrinsic-motivation course design method.
Trenshaw, K. F. Green, K. A., Goldberg, D. E., & Herman, G. L. (in submission). Exploring students’ motivation changes after experiencing an intrinsic motivation supportive course conversion through student narratives.
Rosu, L., Barrett, B. ,Wilcox, B., Herman, G., Price, R. & Destefano, L. (2014). Engineering Professors who are Re-engineering Their Courses: the iFoundry perspective. In Burton, A. & Winkelmes, M.A. (Eds) Talking about Teaching on the Prairie. University of Illinois Press, Champaign, IL, USA
Rosu, L., Barrett, B. ,Wilcox, B., Herman, G., Price, R. & Destefano, L. (2014). Engineering Professors who are Re-engineering Their Courses: the iFoundry perspective. In Burton, A. & Winkelmes, M.A. (Eds) Talking about Teaching on the Prairie. University of Illinois Press, Champaign, IL, USA
Trenshaw, K., Alonso, R. R., Earl, K., & Herman G. (2013) Exploring the student experience in low-cost intrinsic motivation course conversions, In Proceedings of the Forty-Third ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference. (pp. T1D-1 to T1D-3), Oklahoma City, OK, October 23-26.
Herman, G., Trenshaw, K. Goldberg, D. E., Stolk, J., & Somerville, M. (2013). Creating an intrinsic-motivation-driven course design method, In Proceedings of the Forty-Third ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference. (pp. F4E-1 to F4E-7), Oklahoma City, OK, October 23-26.
Herman, G. L., Trenshaw, K. F., Loui, M. C., Green, K. A., & Goldberg, D. E. (2013). Creating scalable reform in engineering education through low-cost intrinsic motivation course conversions of engineering courses, In Proceedings of the 2013 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition, (pp. AC2013-6898). Atlanta, GA. June 23-26.
Herman, G. L., Trenshaw, K. & Rosu, L. (2012). Work-in-progress: Empowering teaching assistants to become agents of education reform. In Proceedings of the Forty-Second ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference. (pp. T2C-1 to T2C-2), Seattle, WA, October 3-6.
Torres, A. T., & Herman, G. L., (2012). Motivating learners: What teaching assistants need to know, In Proceedings of the 2012 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition, (pp. AC2012-3356). San Antonio, TX. June 10-13.
Herman, G. L., & Loui, M. C. (2012). Identifying the core conceptual framework of digital logic, In Proceedings of the 2012 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition, (pp. AC2012-4637). San Antonio, TX. June 10-13.
Herman, G. L., Goldberg, D. E., Green, K.., & Somerville, M. (2012). Creating low-cost intrinsic motivation course conversions in a large required engineering course, In Proceedings of the 2012 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition, (pp. AC2012-3730). San Antonio, TX. June 10-13.
Herman, G. L., Trenshaw, K. F., Loui, M. C., Green, K. A., & Goldberg, D. E. (2013). Creating scalable reform in engineering education through low-cost intrinsic motivation course conversions of engineering courses, In Proceedings of the 2013 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition, (pp. AC2013-6898). Atlanta, GA. June 23-26.
Herman, G. L. (2012). Using contributing student pedagogies to promote students’ intrinsic motivation to learn. Computer Science Education, 22(4), 369-388. DOI: 10.1080/08993408.2012.727711.
Herman, G. L., Trenshaw, K. & Rosu, L. (2012). Work-in-progress: Empowering teaching assistants to become agents of education reform. In Proceedings of the Forty-Second ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference. (pp. T2C-1 to T2C-2), Seattle, WA, October 3-6.
Goldberg, D. E., Herman, G. L., Somerville, M., & Stolk, J. (2012). Creating learning environments that support intrinsic motivation: Exploring the alternatives. In Proceedings of the Forty-Second ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference. (pp. T3E-1 to T3E-2), Seattle, WA, October 3-6.
Torres, A. T., & Herman, G. L., (2012). Motivating learners: What teaching assistants need to know, In Proceedings of the 2012 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition, (pp. AC2012-3356). San Antonio, TX. June 10-13.
Herman, G. L., & Loui, M. C. (2012). Identifying the core conceptual framework of digital logic, In Proceedings of the 2012 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition, (pp. AC2012-4637). San Antonio, TX. June 10-13.
Herman, G. L., Goldberg, D. E., Green, K.., & Somerville, M. (2012). Creating low-cost intrinsic motivation course conversions in a large required engineering course, In Proceedings of the 2012 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition, (pp. AC2012-3730). San Antonio, TX. June 10-13.
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