Motivating students on day one
Posted by Mark Winegar on August 26, 2008
CSC460 is designed for students to use self-initiative to master JavaScript. Mount Marty College students are typically first-generation college students from small communities in the rural western United States. They come from small town schools with small student populations. Their rural backgrounds are shared by their K-12 teachers. A larger than normal percentage of them are home-schooled. They are good people who know more about cattle ranches than business offices so they typically have more ground to cover their peers. I need to get them fired up about mastering the subject.
Motivation can be problematic for these students in high-tech courses. So I am beginning the new semester with a brief talk by Tony Robbins. Robbins has been a highly successful motivational speaker for decades.
Motivation may be even more important this fall as I am considering inviting them to work on a service learning project with high visibility.
