Comments on: Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose

By: Venus

Venus — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 01:03:22 +0000

I’ve never agreed with the award system. The system was never in place when I went to school. My siblings and I would strive for success because we knew that is what was right and that was what mom and dad wanted. Everyone knows self-satisfaction is its greatest reward.

By: miruka holbrook

miruka holbrook — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 15:00:49 +0000

I think that he made a good case. However, I do agree with Jenny, (comment above), about students with special needs. I think that many students do things for themselves, however, some are always looking for a reward. And I think that is partially our fault, but I also think that some students receive “awards” at home as well. I hope that as we explain to students why they need to learn concepts, and how they will use them in real life, then they are more likely to need that intrinsic reward. And we will have less, if – then= rewards.

By: lowell

lowell — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 21:12:29 +0000

Do you think your students – however they’re abled – take any less satisfaction in these things?

By: Jennifer Hogg

Jennifer Hogg — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 16:39:40 +0000

This is very interesting. I resist incentives when I can but instilling intrinsic motivation is very difficult for my students. This requires a higher level of thinking and purpose which is very hard to pull from my special needs students. For general education students, especially older ones, this makes all kinds of sense. I wonder how Pink would recommend instilling this in moderate and severe special needs individuals? If he has any tips, I’d love to know! Thanks for sharing this video. Very enlightening.

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:43:00 +0000

I am not sure why teachers won’t like this. Many of my collegues have realized that the best learning occurs when students feel what they are learning will help them in the real world. Many of our schools assume GPA and college are the only carrots to dangle in front of students, but when the right motivation is found students will learn on their own. The problem most teachers have is this idea from the state, that every child needs to learn the same core content. A large percentage of high school students do not see the value in what is being taught, because the teachers that know them cannot teach what the students want to learn. This model of education does not allow teachers to teach until mastery because you have a set curriculum that needs to be followed in a set time frame. Our school is pushing pacing guides upon all teachers right now. Telling teachers that you have 2 weeks to cover a unit no matter what the background of your particular students.

By: Stephanie Branam

Stephanie Branam — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:16:20 +0000

I really enjoyed listening to Daniel Pink. I agree with higher rewards equaling poorer performance. I have seen it first hand. I once offered an incentive for completing an assignment in x amount of time. There were only a few students who did it, so I realized this wasn’t a very fair incentive because many of those who finished had rushed through it and failed the assignment. I had to rethink “rewards” after that incident.

As for how autonomy,mastery, and purpose fit into a game, well I’m not sure how you have much of a game without them. Autonomy plays the part in the student wanting to take charge and be responsible for their learning the game. In a game, you typically have to master skills to move through it and eventually beat it. Students find this sort of thing interesting because there is a set goal and they can actually see how mastery will pay off in the end. As for purpose, if a game has a purpose then whoever plays it will feel as though they must fulfill the purpose. By fulfilling the purpose, you must have mastered the skills and made it your mission to take charge. It all seems to go together…at least I think so