New Technologies

New Technologies

This week’s blog is related to connectivism and Keller’s ARCS model. I have been asked to describe a situation in which I encouraged people to use a new technology and was met with resistance or disappointing results. What attitudes did these people exhibit? What behaviors did they demonstrate? Using Keller’s ARCS model, describe how you could change the motivation of these people, or learners, to encourage success.

A situation in which I encouraged individuals to utilize technology and was met with resistance would include the transitioning of nurses from the use of paper charting; to charting via the electronic health record. This transition occurred ten years ago. Individuals exhibited attitudes of defiance, resistance, and unwillingness. The felt they were being forced to do something that was unnecessary. Many of them were feelings of uncertainty related to the use of the electronic medical record and how they would incorporate it into their patient care. Properly educating the nurses would have resulted in a much smoother transition. If I had been permitted to transition the nurses according to Keller’s model as described by Driscoll (2005), the results would have been much more effective. Keller’s ARCS model (1984) suggests that in order to motivate learners, certain conditions must be present. These conditions include attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction (ARCS). Learner’s must first be interested in the content; the content must hold a relevance to why they need to learn this information. Once exposed to this information, learners must develop confidence in their ability to utilize this new found information. Finally, learners must feel a sense of satisfaction in their knowledge acquisition, and the ability to incorporate this knowledge (Driscoll, 2005). In the above situation of teaching learners to transition from paper charting to electronic charting, I would first engage their attention by helping them to understand the advantages of electronic medical records and the relevancy to their documentation process. I would have developed their confidence by providing scenarios for charting practice. Finally, I would have paid them for engaging in this learning process and for developing this competency.

Reference

Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction (3rd ed.).Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.

Connectivism, technology, Keller’s ARCS model, motivation