Motivational processes

Abstract

A motivationally intelligent tutor should determine the motivational state of the learner and also determine what caused that state. Only if the causation is taken into account can an efficient pedagogic strategy be selected to find an effective way to maintain or improve the learner's motivation. Thus we argue that motivation is more constructively thought of as a process involving causation rather than simply as a state. We describe methods by which this causality might be determined and suggest a range of pedagogic tactics that might be deployed as part of an overall pedagogic strategy. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.