ARCS Model Aids in Designing for Motivation

Motivating learners to engage is a critical factor ineLearning success; designing for motivation offers ways to bridge motivationgaps, increase engagement—and drive learning and behavior change.

It’s not enough to design great eLearning. Learners who arenot interested in the topic, who do not buy into the goals, who generallyresist change, or who fail to see the big-picture reasons for learning the newmaterial or skill have what Guild Master Julie Dirksen identifies as motivation gaps. “If somebody knows what to do butchooses not to do it, that’s a motivation gap,” she wrote in Design for HowPeople Learn.

Successful eLearning designers consider motivation gaps,identify the gaps in the targeted learners—and strive to address those gapswith their design. A motivational design model, such as the ARCS model, can aidinstructional designers in creating eLearning that will engage more learnersand sustain learner engagement.

The ARCS model

John Keller, an American educational psychologist,introduced the ARCS motivational model of instructional design in 1979. Heargued that existing models emphasized external stimuli too heavily and thatmore attention needed to be given to what motivated learners.

The ARCS model looks at four components of motivation.

• Attention: Instructors or eLearning canattract learners’ attention by using elements of novelty or surprise, by posinga question or presenting a challenge, or by offering up a problem for learnersto solve. Presenting material in a variety of formats and offering learnersdifferent modalities of learning, such as games, text, video, discussions, etc.aids in sustaining their attention.
• Relevance: Establishing relevance isaccomplished by explaining, in accessible language, how the new skill orinformation will help learners solve a problem that they’ve experienced, meettheir needs, or enable them to enhance or apply skills they already possess. Modelinga desired behavior or using a desired skill is another way to establishrelevance.
• Confidence: The confidence component ofmotivation refers to imbuing learners with confidence that they can apply thenew skills or knowledge. The design aspects of this include creatingscaffolding that guides learners from fundamental knowledge to more complexinformation or skills, establishing clear goals, and providing guidance andfeedback that helps them to progress without becoming overwhelmed.
• Satisfaction: Learners gain satisfactionfrom learning when they are able to apply their new skills, solve problems, andearn feedback and rewards that are meaningful to them. These rewards can rangefrom a sense of accomplishment to earning a badge or certificate toreinforcement from managers.

“Motivational design refers to the process of arrangingresources and procedures to bring about changes in motivation,” according toKeller’s website, ARCSModel.com.“Motivational design is systematic and aims for replicable principles andprocesses.” This is a departure from what Keller terms “charismatic” approachesto motivating learners, which rely on a presenter’s prowess as a presenter orsuccess in the topic area.

What motivates learners?

Dirksen, an instructional design consultant who has studied behavior change, differentiates between motivation to learn something and motivationto apply that learning. At the end of training, it’s likely that many of thelearners will know what to do, but actually changing learners’ behavior is asteeper challenge. Two strategies that Dirksen suggests in Design for HowPeople Learn are:

• The Technology Acceptance Model, which statesthat learners have to perceive information or a behavior change as both usefulto them and something that they can easily implement. These echo the relevanceand confidence elements of ARCS.
• The Diffusions of Innovation model, which positsthat, when considering change, a learner examines whether that change orinnovation is better than what it’s replacing, is easy to use, and iscompatible with the learner’s experience and values.

Both of these strategies, as well as the ARCS model,emphasize that the learner’s perception of how easy or difficult the change,the new skill, or the new behavior will be to implement is a significant factorin motivation. What Dirksen describes as “self-efficacy” is key: does thelearner believe that he will succeed?

Applying the model

Applying the ARCS model starts with an analysis of thetarget audience. Who are the learners? What are their goals?

Once the designer is familiar with the learners and theirgoals, she can identify gaps in motivation. In many cases, eLearning is aresponse to goals and learning objectives that are defined by managers or mandatedby law or by company or industry requirements. In these cases, the learnersmight lack intrinsic motivation to master the material, so engaging them can bea challenge. Designers might use novelty to engage these learners—creating alearning game, for example—or draw them into a story.

If the motivational gaps stem from a lack of interest orbuy-in to the goals, the means of motivating learners might center on showingrelevance—how the new information or skill solves a familiar problem or makes aprocess smoother. Addressing a motivation gap that is the result of confusionor lack of understanding of the “bigger picture” reasons for the training mightfocus on showing relevance by showing how the skill has been applied by othersin the organization or by convincing learners that the knowledge will be usefulin the future.

The actual design of the eLearning—how material ispresented, when and whether feedback is offered, how much control learners haveover the format, time, place, and pace of learning—can build (or break) learners’confidence. Avoid cognitive overload by establishing clear and achievable short- and long-range goalsand providing learners everything they need to reach those goals. Timelyfeedback that lets them know how they’re progressing, and helps them correctand learn from errors, builds confidence. On the other hand, over-enthusiasticpraise for minor or meaningless achievements does not, nor does rushing thelearning. If too much complex information is thrown at poorly preparedlearners, the result will be learners who are convinced that they cannot dowhatever it is that is being taught. Good instructional design is crucial toinstilling confidence.

The final component, learner satisfaction, comes frommeaningful achievements. Provide learners with opportunities to use whatthey’ve learned on the job. Empower them to apply their new skills to solve aproblem that they’ve encountered in their work. Offer additional feedback andreinforcement.

Instructional designers can use and apply the elements ofthe ARCS model in numerous ways. Learning games and gamified learning contentincorporate some of the ARCS principles, such as offering challenges, providingfeedback, and including ways to “level up”—to take on increasingly moredifficult challenges or material. Learner-centered design approaches, such as universal design for learning, also embody some of the ARCS principles, such asoffering learners multiple modalities for consuming learning and offering learners control over some aspectsof their learning.

Keller also suggests that designers consider an iterative designstrategy. “By learning and applying systematic problem-solving processes, andby learning how to recognize and classify various types of problems, one canincrease one’s expertise and judgmental capacity. This process will not leadyou to automatic answers to motivational problems, but it can help yousystematically and predictably improve the motivational qualities of yourinstruction,” Keller wrote. The final step of his process looks at learners’response to the design and states that the designer should “determinesatisfaction level” and “revise if necessary.”

References

Dirksen,Julie. Design for How People Learn. San Francisco, CA: New Riders, 2015.

Keller,John. ARCSModel.com. Updated 28 June 2016.

Learning Theories. “ARCS Model of Motivational Design Theories (Keller).” 23 July 2014.

Pappas,Christopher. “Instructional Design Models And Theories: Keller’s ARCS Model Of Motivation.”eLearning Industry. 20 May 2015.