Motivation and Didactics

Motivation & Didactics Event: Hybrid Event RDMTraining4NFDI, Trainer: Rabea Müller, Mareike Wohltmann, Date: 2025-11-20 Based on the Instructor Training by The Carpentries Outline ▶ Introduction ▶ Launches ▶ Stimualte Learning ▶ Formative assessment ▶ Expertise and instructions ▶ Cognitive load ▶ Motivation and demotivation ▶ Landings ▶ Feedback & wrap up 2 3 Launches: How to start a training? What is an Introduction 4 What do you hope to accomplish in a workshop introduction? What information do you need to include in an introduction to accomplish these goals? This exercise should take about 5 minutes. Source: The Carpentries 2023 5 Stimulate learning Questions 6 1.How do we help learners process and retain information? 2.How can we guide learners’ attention? ? Objectives 7 1.Identify strategies that support effective learning. 2.Apply techniques that promote attention and retention. Stimulate the appetite for learning Direct learners’ attention Provide processing aids Slow down the learning process Provide for “refreshing minutes” early on and frequently Have the participants explain in their own words what they have learned Enable transfer option Frequent exercises 8 Ways to enable participants to learn well Direct learners’ attention 9 Remember that clutter leads to chaos Use visual design to attract learners’ attention Give learners a general overview beforehand Reveal the information gradually Add multimedia elements within the eLearning course How to look for pre-existing misconceptions? 16 By getting feedback while we teach to: Assess the developing mental model of a trainee in highly specific ways Verify that learning is proceeding according to plan you speak, we listen Source: The Carpentries 2023 Formative assessment = assessment applied during learning to form the practice of teaching and the experience of the learner. Formative assessment 17 Summative assessment = assessment that sums up what a participant has learned. FINISH START Source: The Carpentries 2023 Formative assessment 18 Any instructional tool that generates feedback that is used in a formative way can be described as “formative assessment.” Based on your previous educational experience (or even this training so far!) what types of formative assessments do you know about? Write your answers in the Etherpad; or go around and have each person in the group name one. This exercise should take about 5 minutes. Source: The Carpentries 2023 Purposes 19 Hunting down misconceptions / evaluating mental models Verifying engagement Supporting memory consolidation For instructors: Learning that you may need to change your pace Review a particular concept Source: The Carpentries 2023 Identify the misconceptions 20 Choose one wrong answer and write in the Etherpad what misconception is associated with that wrong answer. This discussion should take about 5 minutes. Question: what is 27 + 15? a) 42 b) 32 c) 312 d) 33 Source: The Carpentries 2023 Each of the wrong choices helps the instructor figure out precisely what misconceptions learners have adopted when they select that choice. Diagnostic power 21 Source: The Carpentries 2023 Formative assessments are most powerful when: All learners are effectively assessed All instructor responds promptly to the results of the assessment How to do formative assessments? 22 Source: The Carpentries 2023 Handling outcomes Formative assessments allow us as instructors to adapt our instruction to our audience. What options do we have if a majority of the class chooses: 1. mostly one of the wrong answers? 2. mostly the right answer? 3. an even spread among options? Choose one of the above scenarios and compose a suggested response to it in the Etherpad. This discussion should take about 5 minutes. Source: The Carpentries 2023 Expertise and instructions 24 Questions 25 1.Does subject expertise make someone a great teacher? 2.How are we (as Instructors) different from our learners and how does this impact our teaching? ? Mind the gap 32 Expert blind spot / Expert awareness gap = wh en experts are so familiar with th eir subject that they can no longer imagine what it is like to not understand the world that way. Source: The Carpentries 2023 What does this mean for you? 33 Experts: Listen carefully to your learners Seek out less-expert colleagues to discuss your teaching plans Novices: your explanations may be more likely to meet novice learners where they are. Source: The Carpentries 2023 Awareness gaps 34 1. Is there anything you are learning how to do right now? Can you identify something that you still need to think about, but your teacher can do without thinking about it? 2. Think about the area of expertise you identified for yourself earlier. What could a potential awareness gap be? This exercise should take about 5 minutes. Source: The Carpentries 2023 Switching language 35 Examples Unix / Bash / shell Source: The Carpentries 2023 What do you use interchangeably 36 Source: The Carpentries 2023 In the Etherpad, share an example of words or notation that you sometimes use to accomplish or refer to the same thing. Building awareness of how you can represent the same concept in multiple different ways will help you avoid doing so without explanation while teaching. This exercise should take about 5 minutes. Dismissive language 37 Examples: “just”, “Look, it is easy, you just” This language gives learners the very clear signal that the person helping them thinks their problem is trivial and that there must be something wrong with them if they do not experience it that way → Replace dismissive language with more positive and motivating word choices Source: The Carpentries 2023 Changing your language 38 Source: The Carpentries 2023 1. What other words or phrases, besides “just”, can have the same effect of dismissing the experience of finding a subject difficult or unclear? 2. Propose an alternate phrasing for one of the suggestions above. Write your examples and alternatives in the Etherpad. This exercise should take about 5 minutes. ANY QUESTIONS? “Any questions?” 39 Source: The Carpentries 2023 → To be replaced by: “What questions do you have?” + Leaving a healthy pause for consideration (~2 min) You are not your learners 40 Do not generalize from your experience to that of your novice learners. Two points to keep in mind when contemplating the learner experience Researcher’s primary goal is not to learn RDM, but to do better and more efficient research. Some researchers have avoided learning RDM previously because they believe that the time investment will be excessive and will interfere with their other work. Source: The Carpentries 2023 Self-aware experts = experts who identified and corrected for their own expert awareness gaps. They are well poised to: Help students make meaningful connections C onfidently turn an error into a learning opportunity Explain a complex topic in multiple ways Advantages of self-aware experts 41 Source: The Carpentries 2023 1.I will read out the list of words. 2.I want you to remember them. 3.When I finish, I want you to write them down somewhere not visible (not in collaborative document). 4.I will read them back to you and we’ll see how many you got right. Exercise: Test Your Working Memory (5 min) 48 Memory and Cognitive Load 49 Short term memory This is the type of memory you use to actively think about things and is often called working memory. It is much faster, but also much smaller. Long term memory It is where we store persistent information like our friends’ names and our home address. Types of Memory 50 ! ? Timeline ‹#› Memory & Attention Management in Your Workshop Using Formative Assessment to Supp ort Memory Co nsolidation Group Work Opportunities for Reflection Lim it concepts Leading the Learner Attention Faded examples Parson’s Problems Strategies For Memory and Attention Management 52 Most adults can store only a few items in short-term memory for a few seconds before they lose them again Cognitive lo ad should be managed through guided practice to facilitate learning and prevent overload. Formative assessments can he lp to consolidate learning in long-term memory. Key Points 53 Motivation and Demotivation 54 Questions 55 1.Why is motivation important? 2.How can we create a motivating environment for learners? ? Objectives 56 1.Identify authentic tasks and explain why teaching them is important. 2.Develop strategies to avoid demotivating learners. 3.Distinguish praise based feedback on the type of mindset it promotes. Brainstorming Motivational Impacts 57 Source: The Carpentries 2023 Think back to courses you have taken in the past and consider things that a trainer has said or done that you found either motivating or demotivating. Try to think of one example in each case, and share your example in the chat or raise your hand for sharing it with us. This exercise should take about 5 minutes. Errors are Essential to Learning 64 Posi tiv e error framing Participants learn the most from how we recover from errors. Leveraging the power of “yet” Do no harm! 65 Talk contemptuously or wi th scorn about any tool or practice D ive into complex or detailed technical discussion Pretend to know more than you do “Just” Take over the learner’s keyboard Expr ess surprise at unawareness Key Points 66 1.A positive learning environment helps people concentrate on learning. 2.People learn best when they see the utility in what they’re learning and believe it can be accomplished with reasonable effort. 3.Encouraging participation and embracing errors helps learners to stay motivated. Landings: How to end with a training? 67 Making the last moment count 68 Source: The Carpentries 2023 You have made it to the end of your workshop! Everyone is exhausted and their brains are full. You could cover more content… or you could use the last few minutes in another way. In the Pad, write down one thing you could do at the end of a workshop. What is the value of spending time on that thing? If you have time after writing down your idea, read through the others in the list. If you have another idea that has not been written down yet, add it to the list. Feedback 69 Contact 70 For further information we are at your disposal Trainer: Rabea Müller, Mareike Wohltmann Design: ZB MED Marketing Event: Hybrid Event RDMTraining4NFDI Date: 2025-11-20 DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17701667 ZB MED - Information Centre for Life Sciences Gleueler Straße 60 · 50931 Köln [email protected] www.zbmed.de Thank you! 71 www.zbmed.de/en This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (unless stated otherwise within the sources cited in this work).