Success Strategies

Success is one of the five broad groups of strategies in the MUSICModel of Motivation.

Overview

“Students are more motivated and more likely to persist in the face of challenges when they believe that they can succeed. It’s important that students succeed in a course, but it’s as important (and sometimes more important) that students believe that they can succeed. Of course students tend to believe they can succeed if they have succeeded at similar tasks in the past, so the “success breeds success” slogan is relevant here. However, it’s also true that two students who score exactly the same on an exam can have different perceptions of their expected success on the next exam, which can affect their engagement in the class, assignments, and studying in preparation for the next exam. So part of the job of an instructor is to help students interpret their achievements in a course.” (Jones, 2018, p. 93)

“Although students need to believe that they can succeed, that doesn’t mean that they should never fail. Failure is part of learning. Students who never fail, never learn how to overcome failure. So it’s okay for students to fail, but you don’t want that failure to persist to the extent that they believe they can’t succeed. When failures are overcome, they can actually increase students’ perceptions of their ability and of their confidence to succeed in the future.” (Jones, 2018, p. 94)

“Please don’t interpret the success component of the MUSIC model as meaning that the course activities should be easy. Students are most motivated to engage in activities when the challenge of the activities matches their ability levels. When an activity is too difficult, students can become anxious; however, when the activity is too easy, students can become bored (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). Therefore, students are most motivated when the challenge meets their ability level.” (Jones, 2018, p. 94-95)

Questions for Teacher Reflection

Teachers should consider the following questions as they consider which success strategies to implement (Jones, 2009, p. 276-277):

— Do students understand the instructor’s expectations of them?

— Do students find the learning activities challenging in that they are not too hard or easy?

— Do students receive regular feedback about their level of competence?

— Do students believe that they can succeed if they put forth the effort?

Strategies

Success strategies can be divided into the five sub-categories shown in this figure and explained below.

Examples

The bulleted examples provided below are just examples, there are many other ways to help students believe that they can succeed. It’s up to the teachers to decide which strategies are most appropriate for their classes. These examples are quoted directly from Jones (2018, p. 98 to 139).

Focus on Effort

Help students believe they can succeed at course activities when they put forth the required effort.

Help students attribute failures to a lack of effort or the use of ineffective strategies.
Give students the analogy that the brain is like a muscle that gets stronger with exercise.
Create a culture in which failure can be part of the learning process.
Share stories in which someone famous overcame their struggles in the discipline represented in your course.
Set high, but reasonable expectations.
Remind students that their weaknesses are opportunities for improvement.
Solicit testimonials from students who have completed the course.

Support Success

Create an environment that promotes and supports successful learning.

Teach students how to study and learn the knowledge and skills in your course.
Help students learn study strategies that are effective in your course by providing them with a document that includes tips on how to succeed in the course.
Give students time to take notes.
If note taking is essential in your course, you can require students to hand-in their notes as an assignment.
Help students create voluntary study groups.
Create a discussion board online to allow students to ask you (and other students) questions.
Provide opportunities for students to succeed early in the class.
Plan for the possibility that students will not do well early in the semester.
Require students to list the strategies they’ve used so far, reflect on how they’re working, and provide a list of other strategies they could be using.
Assign problems with several correct answers because students will feel less pressure to find the one correct answer; and instead, focus on the knowledge and process needed to solve the problem.
Provide more opportunities for students to improve if they want to improve their grade.
Allow students to re-do assignments and retake tests.
Give students a collaborative two-stage exam in which students complete the exam once by themselves and then again with three other students.
Show students examples of completed assignments from former students to give them an idea of what’s possible and what good assignments looks like.
Show students examples of students who have completed the course successfully or who are currently completing the course successfully.
Give students time to work on assignments in class.
Give students the test questions before the test.
Extend some of the deadlines for the assignments.
Ask good questions in class and give students time to think about the answers.
Create written materials, audio recordings, or videos for explanations of content.
Give some “low-risk” assignments that allow students to be creative, take risks, and possibly fail without negative effects on their course grade (and maybe even have a positive effect on their grade!).
Review important knowledge and skills prior to assessments.
Help students to avoid procrastination.

Appropriate Difficulty

Match the difficulty levels of class activities and assignments with the abilities of the students.

Divide complex learning activities into shorter activities that can be more easily comprehended.
Ensure that students have the necessary prerequisites to learn the new knowledge and skills.
Order activities from easiest to most difficult.
Use competition among students to challenge them.
Allow students to work at their own pace when possible.

Specific Feedback

Provide students with honest, specific feedback about their level of competence at regular intervals.

Administer frequent quizzes, tests, or assignments to provide students with feedback about their abilities.
Explain the answers to quiz/test questions that were answered incorrectly by students.
Assess students’ knowledge, skills, and/or attitudes before or during class and provide feedback as soon as possible.
Require students to submit their assignments electronically to speed-up your grading process.
Use online discussions to provide students with feedback related to their questions.
Send students short emails with feedback.
Require students to provide feedback to each other outside of class time.
Allow students to provide feedback to each other during class time.
Require students to provide feedback to themselves by conducting self-evaluations.

Explicit Expectations

Be explicit when describing your expectations and communicating to students.

Create summary tables in your syllabus that include all assignments, dates, and point values.
Quiz students on the syllabus material. You can either grade the quiz or not.
Address students’ inaccurate preconceived notions of your course on the first day and set appropriate expectations.
If you choose to include a grade for participation, explain it clearly on the syllabus; otherwise, students may assume that participation is synonymous with attendance.
Use direct, explicit language when giving directions and asking students to do something.

Motivation Theories

Success strategies are based on many different theories, including (but not limited to) the theories listed here:

Self-efficacy theor (click here for video) (Bandura, 1977, 1986, 1997)
Expectancy for success (click here for video) (Atkinson, 1964; Eccles et al., 1983)
Need for competence (click here for video) (Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2000)
Self-concept theories (Marsh, 1990; Shavelson & Bolus, 1982)
Self-worth theory (click here for video) (Covington, 1992)
Attribution theory (click here for video) (Weiner, 1986, 2000)
Self-Theories of Intelligence (click here for video) (mindsets) (Dweck, 1999, 2006; Mueller & Dweck, 1998)
Goal orientation theories (click here for video) (Ames, 1992; Elliot, 1999; Maehr & Midgley, 1991; Nicholls, 1984)
Goal setting theories (Locke & Latham, 2002)
Control theories (see Skinner, 1996)