A Model for the Motivational Instruction of Adults

This study surveyed adults in a wide variety of settings to determine their perceptions of their motivational needs. Subjects were 307 adult participants, mostly K-12 teachers and administrators, who were enrolled in a variety of credit and noncredit continuing education classes and workshops at a major midwestern university. A needs assessment survey instrument, developed through revisions of the Course Interest Survey and the Course Effort Survey to reflect the integration of adult learning and general motivational factors relevant to adult learners, was administered over a 4-month period. Results suggest that: (1) instructional strategies can have a positive effect on the interest and effort of adult learners; (2) instructional motivation has components of instructional appeal and learner effort; and (3) many instructors' motivational methods are perceived to have a stronger positive effect on adult learners' interest than on their effort in learning. Confidence building strategies were found to be much more strongly linked to perceived effort of learners than to instructional appeal. Based upon instructional motivation theory, adult learning theory, and these results, an adult learner/instruction interaction motivation model has been developed to show the interaction of methods, conditions, and outcomes for the motivational instruction of adults. Methods are organized as to the suggested effects on appeal, effort, and satisfaction. (15 references) (GL)