Bicol University

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Daraga, Albay
Certificate No. TUV 100 05 1782ISO 9001:2015

Student : Gutlay, Cyryhl B.

Course : BSEd 3 Social Studies
Subject : Production of Social Studies Instructional Materials
Term : 2nd SEM. S.Y 2021-2022
Teacher : Ramon Belgica

John Keller’s ARCS Model of Motivation

Learning Content
I. Motivation in Learning
II. John Keller’s ARCS Motivation Model
III. Main requirements for Motivation
IV. Benefits and limitations of ARCS Motivational Model

Learning Objectives
At the end of the discussion, the students should be able to:
a. Discuss John Keller’s ARCS Model of Motivation in learning.
b. Cite ways to implement and design ARCS Model of Motivation in learning.
c. Appreciate the need of motivational learning in classroom instruction.

In terms of 21st education, there are many perspectives to be refined and changed to
keep up with the demands of the age and bring the multifarious benefits to learners. The
development of science and technology always necessitates human adjustment to create
multifaceted innovation including the education. Globalization is inevitable, socioeconomic,
cultural and historical situations, are character largely influenced by education. It even more gives
direction to all areas. Essential changes are to be made in the learning to that students are better
equipped in facing the globalization.
Learning to meet students’ purpose and desire will increase students’ learning motivation
to help students with their learning process will enhance the cognitive learning result and students’
curiosity in learning.
It is actually a faulty assumption that teachers who show a good mastery of their subject
matter will be considered able to teach well since affording excellent learning experiences takes
more than just comprehension of good concept. It requires class management, ability to use the
technology and motivate students that students may feel accepted and at home in the class. The
accomplishment of the objectives of the instruction has to do with three things, understanding the
content, mastering the delivery strategy, and developing the ability to manage the class. Those
three things are the requisites of teaching. Content is necessary for teachers to guide students
toward the acquisition of correct and beneficial knowledge. Delivery strategy facilitates the
learning process. Hence, teachers need to select and vary their teaching strategies alongside the
use of technology to cater to the needs of students as they understand the lessons well. Class
management is essential to contribute to students’ feeling comfortable and excited about learning.

Learning does not occur when teachers downplay the importance of learning process and
fail to plan ahead the materials to be mastered, instructional strategies engineered to achieve the
objectives, understand the students’ characteristics, and utilize the technology. Students
consequently lack interest in the lesson being taught and their curiosity gets stifled.
The essence of effective learning lies in the teachers’ ability to engineer learning experiences
toward the accomplishment of the desired result of education which the government and teachers
establish. And this learning process will extend far into the students’ later development when they
are internally motivated.

Motivation is what always initiates and guides us towards our goal. For learning to be
worthwhile motivation is required to encourage students or learners to participate in school-related
activities.

WHAT IS MOTIVATION?

Motivation in the learning context is defined as “the power that prompts learners to
show learning behaviors, attract attention to specific learning goals or perform extra work
on tasks” (Gagne et al., 1992)

WHY IS THAT MOTIVATION IS IMPORTANT IN INSTRUCTION AND LEARNING?

Santrock (2004). Motivation is a major component of psychological principles of

learned center. Motivation serves as an important aspect of teaching and learning.
Students who do not possess the motivation will not try their hardest to learn. Students
who are highly motivated enjoy going to schools and love the learning process.

From two analysis and definition we can infer that motivation is a process which drives,
directs and gives rises to determination meaning that a motivated behavior is energized, directed
and lasting. Motivation is a catalyst to students’ learning process that results in their being life-
long learners.
Motivation and Learning are two things that are closely related. Learning is considered a
relatively permanent change in behavior occurring as a result of reinforcement and motivation
given based on specific objectives. Learning motivation encompasses internal and external
encouragement to the learners who are learning to change their behavior. Motivation to learn
constitutes a process that creates an interest in learning, gives direction, and boosts
perseverance. This means that motivated behavior is energetic, purposeful and long-lasting.
When we say there is motivation in a student’s learning, there should be, passion and
desire to succeed, the encouragement and learning needs, hopes and ideals of the future, award
in learning, the desire of interest in learning, and the existence of a conducive learning
environment that allows students to study well.

Degeng (2008), argued that motivational management is a very important part in the
students’ interaction with learning. Learning often fails because subject matter loses its
appeal and becomes a mere collection of meaningless facts, concepts, procedures or
principles.

McClelland (2011) revealed that motivation contributes up to 64% to the learning

achievement. Teachers serve as facilitators and motivators in learning.

Several researches throughout education indicate that motivation influences the

effectiveness of learning and found out that students motivated for high achievement would
demonstrate better accomplishment than those unmotivated. We can understand that the extent
of students’ learning performance depends largely on their achieving motivation. Students with
high achieving motivation would make efforts to get most out of their learning. And this motivation
is due teachers attention. Since motivation is essential to students learning performance it’s one
of the teachers responsibility to do their part in instilling in them.

In the pursuit of knowing how to increase every students motivation during learning
many instructional design models are researched and designed but they are only focusing
on instructions that will only be effective when learners wants to learn. Few are developed
on methods to make instructions more interesting. John Keller’s ARCS Motivational Model
is the most famous of them. Let’s be more familiar with it.

John Keller’s ARCS Model of Motivation

The ARCS model of motivational design originally resulted from several years of research
and applications in the areas of motivation at the end of the 1970s. In this time a lot of researches
on motivation were centered the theory that linked the various accomplishment with the students’
different capabilities. Many instructional design models are focused on instructions that will only
be effective when the learner wants to learn and fewer were written on methods to make
instruction more interesting.
However, John M. Keller, an American educational psychologist, the main proponent in
developing the ARCS model of motivational design ( it is designed in 1979, and improved in 1987).
This model provides a systematic and comprehensive approach to improve the appeal of the
instruction in order to motivate students. ARCS model of motivational design is not a model which
can be done independently. It is a model designed to complement the instructional design instead.
The model is based on the premise that changes in the learning environment and teaching
activities can influence the motivation of individuals that may indicate the individual's perception
of value and expectation of success.
It is important to motivate the learners, and ensure the continuity of the motivation during
the instruction. This model is also of particular important for e-learning and flexible learning, since
motivating learners in an online course more difficult than in face-to-face courses.
According to John Keller’s ARCS Model of Motivational Design, there are four steps for
promoting and sustaining motivation in the learning process, the model defines four main
requirements for motivation which also stands for its acronym ARCS, Attention, Relevance,
Confidence, and Satisfaction.
ARCS Learning Model is one form of learning model development with a humanistic
approach. Its major emphasis is on the increase of learning motivation. The ways to achieve the
learning objectives are set forth after learners enjoy, feel motivated to learn, and are willing to
participate in the study. Keller suggests four components of ARCS for all types of instructional
designs because they are related to the theory of the value of hope. He implied that the attention
and relevance help illustrate the value of learning while confidence and satisfaction bring hopes
for successful studies.

As pre-service teachers we need to value that motivation is important in the learning

process of our students. Gaining an understanding of what to use and how to stimulate student’s
minds to generate positive outcomes is the basis of Keller’s model. It incorporates gaining their
attention, presenting the information in a way that establishes relevance/importance, promoting
confidence in student’s abilities and finally helping them understand that hard work and dedication
will result in satisfaction.

We already know that this model can be used in classroom design to stimulate the
motivational appeal of classroom materials and learning motivation. The model defines
four main requirements for motivation: attention, relevance, trust, and satisfaction; each
is further subdivided into subcategories containing strategies that can be used to create
this motivational state. Let us look more into it.

ATTENTION

First, a lesson must gain the learner's attention. Attention is about keeping students
interested and maintaining this interest throughout the classroom and course. Attention maintains
events. Keller believes that in addition to motivation, attention is also a necessary prerequisite for
learning. One way to attract the learner's attention is to create inquiry awakenings to stimulate
inquiry attitudes. Tactics for this can range from simple unexpected events to mentally stimulating
problems that engage a deeper level of curiosity, especially when presented at the beginning of
a lesson. By asking questions or asking challenging questions, teachers can stimulate information
search behaviors, thereby involving learners. Another element is differentiating your teaching
strategies, like preliminary activities or motivational activities because even if they are good ones
if it never change and just the same every time they will lose their interest with it.

Strategy Instructional Design

Perceptual Arousal
What can I do to capture their interest?
Inquiry Arousal
How can I stimulate an attitude of inquiry?
 Using surprising and interesting events that
have happened recently.
 Provide Real-world Examples by relating
specific examples about the lesson content.
 Use a small amount of humor to maintain
interest. But be careful of injecting much
humor since it can be distracting.
 Incongruity and Conflict: Go against
learners’ past experiences or provide
opposite point of view.
 Arousing curiosity and thirst for knowledge.
 Active participation by provide learners with
hands on or role playing activities.
  Inquiry: Ask learners questions to allow
them to do brainstorming or critical thinking.
 Using various methods and media, humors
Variability and games.
How can I use a variety of tactics to maintain  Use variety of methods and approach (e.g.
their attention? videos, discussion groups, lectures,
collaborate learning) to sustain interest.

RELEVANCE

The second requirement is to build relevance. Relevance means aligning our learning
goals with learners’ personal goals, whether these goals are future-oriented, altruistic or social.
By focusing on this category, teachers try to avoid or answer "Why should we do this? In class.
One strategy to help learners understand the relevance of learning is to show them how it will
help them achieve short, medium or long term goals. Alongside with this is piquing their curiosity
on the lesson, However, we need to remember that even if curiosity is aroused, motivation is lost
if the content has no perceived value to the learner.
Building relevance among our learners results from connecting the content of instruction
to important goals of the learners, their past interests, and their learning styles. One traditional
way to do this is to relate instructional content to the learners’ future job or academic requirements.
Another, and often more effective approach is to use simulations, analogies, case studies, and
examples related to the students' immediate and current interests and experiences. For example,
secondary school children enjoy reading stories with themes of stigma, popularity, love, and
isolation because these are important issues at that time of their lives.

Strategy Instructional Design

Familiarity  Using language, example and concept in
How can I tie the instruction to the learners’ accordance with students’ experiences.
experiences?  Link to Previous Experience: Give learners
a sense of continuity by allowing them to
establish connections between new
information and what they already know.
 Modeling: Show learners role models using
the content that you present to improve their
lives.
Goal Orientation  Giving instruction focused on the clear
How can I best meet my learner’s needs? (Do I purposes and objectives .
know their needs?)  Perceived Present Worth: Explain why and
how this content help the learners today.
 Perceived Future Usefulness: Explain why
and how this content help the learners in
the future (e.g. finding a job, getting into a
college, etc.)
Motive Matching  Employing learning strategies that meet with
How and when can I provide my learners with students’ learning style and interest.
appropriate choices, responsibilities, and  Needs Matching: Assess learners to get
influences? better understanding whether they learn
 because of achievement, power, or
affiliation.
 Choice: Allow learners to choose their own
instructional method and strategies.

CONFIDENCE

The third condition required for motivation is confidence. In the classroom Students do not
want to feel or be seen as a failure by their classmates and will follow human instincts and stay
away from situations or situations that may lead to such opportunities. Instructional designers can
predict this through strategy which aims to establish clear learning requirements at the beginning
of the learning process. This represents a clear description of the goals, learning objectives, and
evaluation criteria for progress and final results. We can actually accomplish this confidence as
teachers by helping students establish positive expectancies for success. Often students have
low confidence because they have very little understanding of what is expected of them. By
making the objectives clear and providing examples of acceptable achievements, it is easier to
build confidence.
Another aspect of confidence is how one attributes the causes of one’s successes or
failures. Being successful in one situation can improve one’s overall confidence especially if the
student attributes success to personal effort or ability. If the student believes that success was
due to external factors such as luck, lack of challenge, or decisions of other people, then
confidence in one’s skills is not likely to increase.

Strategies Instructional Design

Learning Requirements
How can I assist in building a positive
expectation for success?
Success Opportunities
How will the learning experience support or
enhance the students’ beliefs in their
competence?
Personal Responsibility
How will the learners clearly know their success
is based upon their efforts and abilities?
 Having learning criteria, and clear
assessment.
 Communicate Objectives and Prerequisites
by providing learners with learning standards
and evaluation criteria so that they can
establish positive expectations, and achieve
success.
 Giving opportunities to succeed, organizing
the learning materials with appropriate range
of difficulties.
 Facilitating self-growth, we can give learners
opportunity to be successful by providing
multiple and varied experiences.
 Provide them feedback about their
improvements and deficiencies during the
process so that they can adjust their
performance.
 Giving feedbacks to enhance responsibility.
 Give learners control, learners need to get
control over their learning process so that
they can feel that their success does not
totally depend on external factors. Instead,
they have internal factors affecting their
success.
SATISFACTION

If the learners are attentive, interested in the content, and moderately challenged, then
they will be motivated to learn. But to sustain this motivation, the fourth condition of motivation is
required which is satisfaction. The important question in this is How much of the pursuit of the
learning experience will bring learners in return. This satisfaction can come from internal or
external sources. Satisfaction as motivation deals with natural consequences. The learner can
get satisfaction by completing a topic, or the sense of accomplishment can be so ingrained in the
teaching unit that completing the unit itself will bring a high degree of satisfaction to the learner.
Satisfaction also refers to the positive feelings about one's accomplishments and learning
experiences. It means that students receive recognition and evidence of success that support
their intrinsic feelings of satisfaction and they believe they have been treated fairly. Tangible
extrinsic rewards can also produce satisfaction, and they can be either substantive or symbolic.
That is, if they consist of grades, privileges, promotions or such things as certificates, badge,
simple school supplies such as a pen, eraser, or other tokens of achievement. Satisfaction can
also be seen when students see opportunities to apply what has learned, coupled with personal
recognition that support intrinsic feelings of satisfaction. Finally, satisfaction can also be equated
with a sense of equity, or fairness, which is important. Students must feel that the amount of work
required by the course was appropriate, that there was internal consistency between objectives,
content, and tests, and that there was no favoritism in grading.

Strategies Instructional Design

 Giving students opportunities to apply their

Intrinsic Reinforcement
How can I provide meaningful opportunities for
learners to use their newly acquired
knowledge/skill?
skills.
 Encourage intrinsic enjoyment of learning
experience so that learners have fun,
continue the learning process without
expecting reward or other kind of external
motivational elements.

 Giving verbal praises and other words of

encouragement to improve students’ pride
and self-actualization.
Extrinsic Reward  Provide learners with praise or rewards
What will provide reinforcement to the learners’ through positive feedback, rewards, and
successes? reinforcements. But be careful about the
scheduling of reinforcement. It is more
effective when you provide reinforcement at
non-predictable intervals.

 Maintaining the standard and consequence

Equity
How can I assist the students in anchoring a
positive feeling about their accomplishments?
consistently.
 Maintain consistent standards and
consequences for success. Use consistent
assessment rubrics, and share them with
learners.
Benefits and Limitations

Benefits

• It allows the learners to choose the material that they want to learn and the
assignments they want to complete.
• It also gives the students enough time to finish their research and assignments.
• Motivates the students to be curious and active learner.
• Integrates well with lesson planning and instructional design processes.
• Simple, easy to use, heuristic approach to increasing the motivational application
of instruction.
• It provides a practical framework for both the design and expansion of the
motivational quality of a range of informational entities.

Limitations
• Preparing ARCS motivation is time consuming.
• The teacher may change or re-think all of his/her instructional design to be able to
follow the ARCS model.
• Presents difficulties if there are learners of different levels of motivation in the
group.

References:

Gagne, R. M., Briggs, L. J., & Wager, W. W. (1992). Principles of instructional design. Retrieved
April 2, 2022 from
https://www.hcs64.com/files/Principles%20of%20instructional%20design.pdf

Keller, J. (1987). Development and Use of the ARCS Model of Instructional Design. Journal of
Instructional Development, 10(3), 2-10. Retrieved April 2, 2022, from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/30221294

Joseph, A. (2016). John Keller's arcs model of motivational design [Presentation]. Slideshare.
Retrieved April 2, 2022, from https://www.slideshare.net/ArunJoseph22/john-kellers-arcs-
model-of-motivationaldesign-ppt

Main, R. (1993). Integrating Motivation into the Instructional Design Process. Educational
Technology, 33(12), 37-41. Retrieved April 3, 2022, from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/44428101

WNET Education. (2004). What is Constructivism. Educational Broadcasting Corporation.

Retrieved April 3, 2022, from
https://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/