2008-2009 Provost Lecture Series

Teach me: I dare you! Changing student attitudes about who is responsible for learning

Monday, March 30, 2009
1:30-3:00 p.m.
Hemisphere Room
Hale Library

Marilla Svinicki

This lecture is co-sponsored by The IDEA Center.

Abstract:

Student motivation for learning is sometimes hard to see and often hard to understand. In this session, we will look at the current motivation theories that inform teacher/student interactions in a way to foster greater and more self-regulated motivation for learning. Participants will not only hear about the theories, but attempt to identify their own practices that encourage students to become more self-regulating and self-motivating.

Biographical Sketch:

Marilla Svinicki began her professional life teaching at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN, after graduating with a Ph.D. in experimental psychology from The University of Colorado. Life circumstances moved her to Texas where she began a thirty year journey of development with the Center for Teaching Effectiveness at the University of Texas. In August of 2004 she retired from the Center and became a full time faculty member in Educational Psychology where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in instructional psychology, learning, cognition and motivation. She is currently serving as the Director of Curriculum and Evaluation of the Clinical Education Center at Brackenridge Hospital and chair of her area in Educational Psychology. She is the editor in chief of New Directions for Teaching and Learning, co-editor of McKeachie’s Teaching Tips, and sole author of a general book for faculty on learning and motivation in postsecondary classrooms.