Our assignment this past week was to talk about the relative advantage of using technology in our content areas. I feel like using technology within content area is key to engaging students. While reading materials for another class I am enrolled in right now, we learned about the ARCS model of motivational design. It is an acronym for Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction (Keller). Not only can technology grab the attention of our learners, but it can also provide relevance to their lives. There have been many times I have used technology to grab the students' attention. I especially like to show a video of other students their age participating in projects and having ideas. The more a student feels the relevance to them, them more likely they are to grasp onto the topic and apply it to themselves.
Keller, J.M., & Suzuki, K. (1988). Use of the ARCS motivation model in courseware design. In D. H. Jonassen (ED.) Instructional designs for microcomputer courseware. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Keller, J.M., & Suzuki, K. (1988). Use of the ARCS motivation model in courseware design. In D. H. Jonassen (ED.) Instructional designs for microcomputer courseware. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.