Intrinsic Interest

Students are more likely to want to learn when: An activity is connected to their personal interests.

• Find out what your students are interested in (e.g., through pre-class or 1st day student surveys and tailor your class activities/assignments to connect to students’ personal interests.
• Provide students choice and flexibility to tailor their own class activities/assignments to their interests.

Situational Interest

Students are more likely to want to learn when: An activity is designed to “catch” their interest in a given situation.

• Design the first day, or the beginning of each class session, so that it catches students’ interests and makes them curious about what is coming next. See this resource for tips on approaching your 1st day.
• Adopt active learning techniques to help engage students in a topic. Here are two links to resources. The first is a comprehensive list of over 200 active learning techniques. The second is how to adapt particular active learning techniques to different teaching environments (e.g., face-to-face teaching, asynchronous online teaching, synchronous online teaching, and even teaching during the pandemic in a physically-distant safe classroom).
• Adopt a teaching methodology that helps promote student engagement in a topic such as problem-based learning, case-studies, debates, role-playing, and peer learning/teaching.

Utility Value

Students are more likely to want to learn when: An activity is perceived to be useful and relevant.

• Connect course material to students' present or future lives. Consider implementing the Build Connections activity in your classroom.
• Connect course material to current events. For example, here is a resource on how different academic disciplines could connect course material in their discipline to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Create opportunities for students to engage in written reflection about how the course material connects to their lives.

Identity Value

Students are more likely to want to learn when: An activity affirms an important aspect of who they are and is something they want to be good at.

• Be identity-conscious in your classroom by evaluating how you currently support diverse student identities. For example, will all students see their social and cultural identities represented in different aspects of your course (the readings, lectures, activities/assignments, and assessments)?
• Provide students opportunities to incorporate aspects of their identity and culture in activities/assignments.

Context and Rationale

Students are more likely to want to learn when: They understand what the purpose and meaning of an activity is.

• When starting an activity, take time to explain the reason why students are doing it and how it connects to key learning objectives and outcomes.
• Adopt teaching methodology and practices that reinforce offering context and rationale (e.g., see Transparency in Learning and Teaching).
• Encourage your students to ask for context and rationale whenever they don’t see a purpose for doing it. Some instructors call this giving their students the “why license” so students have an open invitation to ask “Why are we learning this?”

Enthusiastic Models

Students are more likely to want to learn when: They interact with instructors and students who are enthusiastic and passionate about learning.

• Be enthusiastic when launching your course by showing your passion for the subject matter and your students' growth and development in the topic. For example, consider creating a welcome video and rethink how you introduce your course on Day 1.
• Don’t just be enthusiastic on the 1st day. Be enthusiastic throughout your course by reinforcing your passion for the subject matter and your students’ growth and development.
• Showcase models of others enthusiastic about the subject matter (e.g., share videos or written comments from former students/alumni or people working in that discipline).

Belonging

Students are more likely to want to learn when: They experience meaningful relationships and connections with others (e.g., student-to-student and student-to-instructor).

• Rethink how to interact with your students or to have students interact with each other virtually. For example, see this resource on 10 ways to rethink your office hours.
• Adopt inclusive teaching practices that promote belonging. For example, see this resource for tips on how to incorporate inclusive teaching practices when teaching online.
• Humanize yourself and your course. Share personal stories and express to your students both your success and failures.