While watching and listening to the YouTube video, I was in the shower and let the reflective thoughts from Jon Dron flow while I pondered. I usually do my best thinking in the shower, which can be hard when I don’t have a pad and paper to write down what made sense; but writing it into my waterproof phone does allow me to document my reflection.
Among many intriguing points of conversation, Dr. Dron expressed something that piqued my interest: when you increase extrinsic reward, you decrease intrinsic reward. I hadn’t considered the ramifications of extrinsic motivation and the actions of encouraging such. From my new understanding, it can actually draw the effectiveness away from feeling internal accomplishments and I know that the latter is a better determinant of long-term resilience and success, as detailed in a study conduced in the Journal of Informatics Education and Research. What I have to gain from this learning is the process of teaching -or more so encouraging the exploration of- self discipline and discovery of intrinsic motivators. But, how do I teach this is if I’m extrinsically motivated myself? Is it a fault to teach something you have yet to discover? There exist marriage counsellors who are divorced and counsellors who are still unpacking their own traumas… maybe the flawed existence and continual strive for improvement is only human. I have more to learn and explore on this topic.
Back to Jon Dron’s conversational exchange. He spoke about students’ specific experiences with distanced and alternative learning. For example, portfolios are opportunities that allow students to choose their best work to be submitted for review from the teacher. Conducting a pedagogical approach such as this allows more autonomy over students’ learning assessment and encourages growth. This, paired with formal assessments in the manner of tests helps, students assess their own levels and be responsible for their education, productivity, and effort as they are able to continually progress and reflect.

The second speaker with Dr. Dron isolates the theory that to make a big change in learning we must de-couple assessment and learning. This is hard, as I consider how deeply ingrained assessment is in institutions. I need to think about this more deeply as I haven’t heard this directly from an academic. I have felt similarly for a while, especially when studying for a big exam, but I have to keep wondering how education can progress with this while so much of it is standardized to push students through a system that has been breaking down for a long time now. If anyone would want to argue the latter sentence, I would encourage some reading on the decline of literacy rates in Canada and the skill levels that seldom correspond to the grade level. This has been my own observation and research.
There are many aspects of this conversation that I have to consider further and would appreciate having some exchanges to flush out the ideas more for my own comprehension and consideration. It appears I have a lot to learn… and to unlearn.
References:
Role of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Rewards in Motivating Employees. (2024). Journal of Informatics Education and Research. https://doi.org/10.52783/jier.v4i2.1185