The Context The Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science (MSCS) department at UW-Stout teaches general education (GE) courses as well as courses for our Applied Math and Computer Science degree. Depending on their major, students are required to take at least one of the following classes, College Math I, College Math II, Finite Mathematics, Concepts of Mathematics, and Calculus I, to satisfy their analytic reasoning requirement. Since students are required to take these courses, instructors often encounter classes where the majority of the students lack motivation. The two goals of this project are to identify the characteristics of a motivated student and to specify the actions a teacher can take to influence a students' motivation. In my literature review it was often stated that motivation changes depending on the context, so the first part of this project will be to gather information in a general education mathematics context, specifically in Math 118 Concepts of Mathematics. The second part will be implementing those actions/methods identified to hopefully increase students' motivation. Fall 2008

Evidence of Student Learning & Methods of Analysis In the fall of 2008, mathematics teachers were questioned about their ideas on the characterisitics of a motivated student. The questions were designed in an open-ended format. The results were analyzed looking for common themes. (see link below) Also in the fall of 2008, about 80 students were questioned about their ideas on the characteristics of a motivated student. The questions asking about the characterisitics of a motivated student were similar to the faculty questionnaire and then continued with questions regarding the methods/techniques that influence their motivation. A theme-based analysis was used to determine results and was then compared to the faculty results. (see link below) Once both sets of answers were collected they were used to design a formal survey to give to students in the Spring of 2009. The questions were written in a likert format using an online survey tool at UW-Stout. The results were analyzed using the online tool with the help of the Budget, Planning, and Analysis Office on campus. (see link below) During the following academic year, the results from the formal survey on characteristics will be used to further study how to increase students motivation in a "what works" project using the methods/techniques identified from the students survey. Spring 2009 Fall 2008 Faculty Survey Fall 2008 Student Survey Spring 2009 Student Survey

Project Summary What characteristics define the motivated student in a General Education Mathematics course? What do students name as the teaching techniques and activities that motivate them? How do we motivate our students when we teach a General Education required course? These are the questions that make up the focus of my Wisconsin Teaching Fellows Project. During the Fall 2008 semester, I questioned both students and instructors (separately) to determine the characteristics they think most motivate students. The students were asked which activities in the class motivated them the most to work and to succeed. During the Spring 2009 semester, I created a formal survey based on the responses from the fall to give to the students. I will then implement the activities and methods identified through those surveys to foster increases in motivation during the following year. Fall 2008

Annotated List of Helpful Resources & References Garcia, Teres, Paul Pintrich. Assessing Students' Motivation and Learning Strategies: The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association. San Francisco, CA. April 1995. Jacobson, Rebecca, Sandra Harris. Does the Type of Campus Influence Self-Regulated Learning as Measured by the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire? Education. Vol. 128 Issue 3, p412-431, 2008. Linnenbrink, Elizabeth, Paul Pintrich. Motivation as an Enabler for Academic Success. School Psychology Review. Vol. 31 Issue 3, p313, 15pages, 2002. Lynch, Douglas. Motivational Factors, Learning Strategies and Resource Management as Predictors of Course Grades. College Student Journal. Vol. 40 Issue 2, p423-428, 2006. McClendon, R.C. Motivation and Cognition of Preservice Teachers. Journal of Instructional Psychology. Vol. 23 Issue 3, p216, 1996. Pintrick, Paul. A Conceptual Framework for Assessing Motivatoin and Self-Regulated Learning in College Students. Educational Psychology Review. Vol. 16 No. 4, 2004. Pintrich, Paul, Elizabeth De Groot. Motivational and Self-Regulated Learning Components of Classroom Academic Performance. Journal of Educational Psychology. Vol. 82 No. 1, p33-40, 1990. Pintrich, Paul, David Smith, Teresa Garcia, and Wilbert McKeachie. Reliability and Predictive Validity of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. Educational and Psychological Measurement. Vol. 53, p801-813, 1993. Report on the National Survey of Student Engagement for UW-Stout, available at www.uwstout.edu/bpa. Survey done in 2006 and 2007. Spring 2009

Preliminary Results, Findings, Conclusions, & Implications After the initial surveys were distributed in the fall of 2008, I spent some time trying to find common themes among the characteristics of a motivated student. I also took some time to determine if there were any differences between the students and facultys responses. The common themes led to the formal survey that was used in the spring of 2009. (see link below) There were very few differences on the characteristics of a motivated student. Basically, faculty responses discussed connections occurring outside of class and emphasized deeper learning more than the student responses. However the question concerning teaching methods had several differences. The faculty repsonses focused on teaching methods in the classroom. For example, they discussed more group work and more active learning or colloborative learning assignments. The student responses however focused on the weights of the assessments. They discussed more extra credit opportunities and wanting to change how different categories (quizzes, homework, exams, etc) were weighted. It seemed as an afterthought that they mentioned using educational games in class and group work. In April, the spring 2009 survey was administered to approximately 80 students. Below are the responses from the students in order from highest to lowest. Top Five Actions a Motivated Student Demonstrates: Comes to class prepared: Completes all homework and assignments on time: Pays attention during class: Takes responsibility for their own learning: Attends all class sessions on time. Top Five Characteristics a Motivated Student Demonstrates: Respectful to other students and teacher: Perseveres and is able to find help when needed: Hard working throughout the semester: Seeks value in the material they are learning: Portrays a positive attitude about the material. Top Five Teaching Methods to Increase Motivation: Provide extra credit opportunities: Supply test preparation activities: Maintain a positive and enthusiastic attitude: Make time to answer questions throughout the semester: Use different styles of teaching throughout the semester (lectures, group work, presentations, etc). In the spring of 2010, I hope to be able to implement these teaching methods to determine if they do increase motivation, and if increased motivation leds to better learning. It is also my hope that others will use these repsonses to increase the motivation in their general education mathematics courses. Spring 2009 Spring 2009 Student Survey

Career Relevance & Impact My experience with the Wisconsin Teaching Fellows and Scholars (WTFS) Program has been wonderful and has impacted my teaching. Working with colleagues from all over the state and from different disciplines has been rewarding. I have learned about new theories of education and different ways to look at my project. Going to Faculty College in June was a great beginning of meeting the other fellows and scholars and interacting with a larger group of faculty from the state. It is impressive to see that many teachers who care about their students learning and it is encouraging to see all these people trying to improve their students understanding. Summer Institute was a very rewarding experience with the group of WTFS. I reframed my project question and valued all the feedback I received. It was nice to hear about the other projects and be able to give feedback as well to others. It is very exciting to hear about all the different concepts that we are working on as a group. I can't wait to see the results in April! As the spring semester continues, our small group had our teleconference in March. It was my first teleconference and turned out to be easy to arrange. All the members of our small group along with the WTFS Program staff joined in a discussion that lasted almost an hour. I enjoyed hearing the updates from fellow group members and it helped to hear feedback one final time before our April showing of results. Overall, being selected for the WTFS Program was very valuable for my career. It supported my continuing efforts in the scholarship of teaching and learning work. My department recognizes my work as scholarly research and therefore the WTFS Program has helped me towards my promotion and tenure applications. I hope in the future to apply a second time to the WTFS Program as a Scholar and continue working on improving student understanding in my classes. Spring 2009