With my goal as a future educator, it is imperative for me to learn motivational techniques in

encouraging students to master their chosen craft. The way I see it, motivation can come in two ways.

One would be self-driven, wherein the student will show the utmost interest in his/her studies or

motivation can come from an outside force wherein the student will be highly influenced by someone in

order to succeed.

Self-determination theory struck me as one of the most interesting topics discussed in chapter 15. It

talked about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation which basically sums up my basic idea of motivation. It

mentioned that intrinsic motivation is a way to satisfy one’s ego leading to autonomy, competence and

relatedness. As a growing individual, we all strive for autonomy. We all want to be able to function

individually. In order to achieve that, one must be competent enough. We must be confident that our

actions will produce a positive or at least the intended result. As an educator, it would be part of my

responsibility to provide support and feedback to the student’s outcomes. These feedbacks would pave

the way to their feeling of competence. In order to provide proper feedback, relatedness to the topic

would be essential. Providing examples with ways that the students will be able to relate to and

enhance as they grow into competent nurses would be the primary objective. In doing so, I would also

be able to provide them with the feeling of being cared for. It is the educators’ job to make the topic

interesting for the students. It is important to know the strength and weaknesses of each individual

student. That way educators can formulate different approaches to positively enhance each weakness

while at the same time nurturing their strengths. Bottom line, in order for the students’ intrinsic

motivation to kick in, the educator, being the extrinsic factor should boost their ego into thinking that

with enough effort, they will be able to achieve competence and autonomy.

While the educator has the job of being the extrinsic factor, it is also important to know the limitations

in which motivation can ensure a positive result. Chapter 16 covers the roadblocks and cautions
regarding the possible outcome of a certain motivation technique. It talks about how educators can

ensure that a student can achieve self-determination only if their basic needs are fulfilled. It is

mentioned that learning can only occur if their basic needs are satisfied. I believe that this problem is

mostly seen in the lower level of education. When it comes to higher education, it is rare to see students

who are deprived of basic needs. It is a good to keep an eye out however it is not the main goal at that

point.

When it comes to being a nurse, autonomy is always a good thing to achieve. However, with this

freedom, an educator must firmly point out that too much autonomy can lead to mistakes. It is

important to set boundaries as students could become overly confident with their skills and would take

matters in their own hands. It is important that they learn that they are not a one-man team and

therefore it would be beneficial to provide group activities wherein goals will be meat only by

participating in challenging but achievable group work. It also builds their social relationship with future

colleagues.

As an educator, it is our goal to demonstrate care and interest in students as not just our underlings but

also as people and future members of our society. Sometimes educators forget that their main role is to

nurture their students. They merely focus on teaching what they think should be done in a certain

situation and forget that, as we say, there is “more than one way to skin a cat.” Learning is a never-

ending process. We learn something new each day whether we to see it or not. An educator can learn

something from the students albeit little tricks and newer approaches to the task at hand. Therefore, as

an educator, I would always be open to new suggestions coming from the students and try to see things

from their point of view once in a while. The way I see it, learning can be a two-way street.