The aim of Learning and Development is to roll out training that knocks socks off and secures long-term learner engagement. But what it often achieves is a fleeting interest in the learning process that dissipates all too quickly, leaving a bunch of disinterested, disengaged and demotivated zombie learners in its wake.
When we talk about engagement, we’re thinking about desire and behaviour. Do learners want to learn? Are learners making the effort to learn? Are they enjoying the process and doing well? Another way of looking at this is to consider motivation: are your learners motivated to learn or are they dragging their heels?
Different Kinds of Motivation
Generally speaking, there are two types of human motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic.
Extrinsic motivation involves doing something for its external rewards, like money, praise or something else tangible. For extrinsically-motivated people, it is not the action or behaviour itself which they like, but the outcome. In the learning sphere, this means that learners may not enjoy learning new things, yet they are motivated to continue doing so because of the promise of a payrise at the end of the process.
When it comes to learning, it’s pretty clear that we’re all aiming to get our learners intrinsically motivated. Yet – you may see where this is going – we tend to extrinsically reward our learners (with remuneration, badges, kudos and promotions), which has been found to have a negative impact on intrinsic motivation.
Parts of this article were previously published on eLearning Industry. Click here to read that article!