Context of Post Compulsory Education and Training Assignment

At the moment I feel that I have made quite a good start on the ‘Context of Post Compulsory Education’ assignment.  I had a really nice discussion with Bella Kerr, the course director on the Foundation Course, a few days ago about the topic of the assignment as I thought that it was important to get some input from established staff so I could complete a study which would be useful.  We discussed a number of issues around assessing and grading learner’s art work and the impact this may have on learners.  We also discussed some of the difficulties around assessing and marking project work and the value of the learners development work.  It reminded me of something I read about the role studio-critiques have as both a learning process and assessment tool (I can’t think where I read this but I’ll have to do some research to find it).  This really helped me to clarify my ideas around the assignment and has given me the confidence to move forward. 

However, I have haven’t had to complete this type of research assignment before so I am not 100% sure on the approach I should take.  I have some idea of the questions I should use on the student questionnaire and some idea of where I can get some previous research but apart from that I don’t really know the best approach I should take.  Can anyone out there give me some tips on the best way to go about completing this research assignment?

Motivation - who needs it?

Learners on the course have now been given their Final Major Project and I have to say they are freaking out a bit.  The title is ‘Power of Making’ but that is all the guidance they have been given.  On previous projects the students have been given a project brief which gave indications of the direction the project should take and some idea of timescales. I think some learners were shocked about the open nature of their Final Major Project and at this point don’t know what direction to take.

At this point on the course learner resilience and motivation really comes into play which I started me thinking about where motivation comes from.   Does it only come from within?  Is it something that can be learnt?  Can other people give you motivation?  So I started reading into ideas around motivation - which has also come in handy for Simon’s research assignment.  I found out that there are two forms of motivation; intrinsic and extrinsic.  ‘Intrinsic motivation is said to come from an inner drive and is related to the human need for self-esteem and self-confidence and a desire to satisfy curiosity……. Extrinsic motivation on the other hand is externally produced’ (Armitage et al, 2007: 68).

As I continued my research motivation, and learner resilience, seemed to be closely linked with issues of self-efficacy which were developed by psychologist Albert Bandura’s (1995) in his social cognitive theory.  Bandura’s theory emphasised the role of observational learning and social experience has in the development of individual character or personality traits.  This consisted of an individual’s attitudes, abilities and cognitive skills; this is what Bandura called the self-system.  This has a major impact in how individuals perceive different situations and how they respond to those situations.  Therefore self-efficacy is ‘the belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations’ (Bandura, 1995: 2). 

So, in simple terms self-efficacy is an individual’s belief in their ability to be successful in a particular situation.  Therefore individuals with a high level of self-efficacy see challenging problems as tasks to be overcome, engage more actively in the activities in which they participate and recover more quickly from setbacks or problems.  On the other hand, individuals with low levels of self-efficacy avoid difficult tasks and situations, focus on their weakness and negative outcomes and lose confidence quickly if they experience a negative outcome.

But what does this mean to the learners on Foundation Diploma course and their final major project. Those learners who have a high level of intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy will probably embrace this stage of the course and deal with the challenges.  Those learners who have lower levels of intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy will probably need more support.  ‘For extrinsic motivation to be sustained, students must have attainable goals to work towards, be given immediate feedback on their performance and be rewarded for success’ (Armitage et al, 2007: 68).

There is, however, a further issue that needs to be considered.  Due to the nature of this course learners need to show a level of self-directed study and explore their own creativity and visual literacy skills.  It would therefore be unethical to offer too much support to some learners, especially if you consider the purpose of the course which, in the main, is to prepare learners for higher education.  I would argue that learners need to receive the support that is appropriate for them to achieve.  so each one is able to achieve their potential.

References

Armitage, A., Byant, R., Dunnill, R., Hayes, D., Hudson, A., Kent, J., Lawes, S. & Renwick, M. (2007) Teaching and Training in Post-Compulsory Education, 3rd Ed, Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Bandura, A. (1995) Self-Efficacy in Changing Societies. New York: Cambridge University Press_.

Bibliography

Bandura, A. (1977) Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change, Psychological Review, 84, 191-215.