Theories of Motivation for Adults Learning with Games

Author(s):  
Nicola Whitton

This chapter considers motivation from the adult learning perspective, specifically in the context of Higher Education. It is common for the findings of research carried out on children in this area to be used as a justification for game-based learning in university settings. However, adults’ motivations for playing games are unlike those of young people, and motivations to play games for leisure and learning also differ. This chapter considers these differences by first examining the literature on motivation and games, and secondly by presenting and critically discussing two recent theories of adult motivation. It aims to provide an overview of motivations for game-playing outside the post-compulsory education sector, and to present guidelines to better understand how adult motivations can improve learning.

1996 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 675-691 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torild Hammer ◽  
Andy Furlong

In this paper we consider some of the implications of the growth of educational participation for the labour market integration of young people between the ages of 17 and 19 in Norway and Scotland. In particular, we focus on the experiences of disadvantaged youth and assess the extent to which they benefit from participation in post-compulsory schooling. We argue that in terms of success on the labour market, post-compulsory secondary education is only beneficial to those intending to continue into Higher Education. We demonstrate the existence of persistent inequalities among ‘non-traditional stayers’, and show that despite greater access to post-compulsory education, young people from middle class families still retain important advantages in both Norway and Scotland. However, we argue that in Scotland, females and those from less advantaged social positions are more disadvantaged than their Norwegian counterparts.


Author(s):  
Michael Shevlin ◽  
John Kubiak ◽  
Mary-Ann O'Donovan ◽  
Marie Devitt ◽  
Barbara Ringwood ◽  
...  

People with disabilities have been among the most marginalized groups within society, with consequent limitations imposed on their access to many goods within society, including education, employment, and economic independence. Some progress is evident in the establishment of more inclusive learning environments, yet it is also clear that upon leaving compulsory education or further/higher education, young people with disabilities encounter significant barriers to accessing meaningful employment. Facilitating transitions to employment for people with disabilities should be informed by ambition and a belief in the capacity of these individuals to make a meaningful contribution to society and achieve a level of economic independence. The issues that are pertinent to young people who have a special educational need or a disability and an aspiration to transition to further/higher education require attention. Research and applied practice has demonstrated the utility of an innovative educational and work readiness program for people with an intellectual disability. Such work highlights the facilitating factors that may encourage a more ambitious reimagining of what may be possible for individuals who have been marginalized.


2013 ◽  
Vol 224 ◽  
pp. R29-R47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Holmes

There is an enduring belief by UK policymakers that a large higher education sector is an important driver of long-run economic growth, which has been part of the narrative since the Robbins Report. Back then, there was plenty of conjecture and assumption, but strikingly little concrete evidence to support such a belief. This paper asks whether the evidence base has strengthened in the 50 years since it was published. It looks at a number of different growth equation specifications and, using international education data, attempts to draw out the contribution of both the number of, and the growth in, graduates since the 1960s. There are three main findings. Firstly, many growth relationships, including those estimated elsewhere in the literature, are quite sensitive to the countries included – which often depends on the variables used – and time period of analysis. I argue that, given these issues, growth equations should always be treated with caution. Secondly, and remembering this caveat, neither the increase nor the initial level of higher education is found to have a statistically significant relationship with growth rates both in the OECD and worldwide. This result is robust to numerous different specifications. Thirdly, there is some evidence, consistent with the existing literature, that levels of technical skills at the end of compulsory education matter. The employment of higher level technical skills (proxied by the number of employed researchers in an economy) is also a strong predictor of growth. This gives a possible mechanism linking the output of (some) of the higher education sector with economic growth. However, it does not imply that mass higher education necessarily leads to higher growth. This depends on the skills produced by an expanding tertiary sector and their utilisation (or underutilisation) in the jobs available to increasing numbers of graduates.


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-138
Author(s):  
Bruce Maxwell ◽  
David I. Waddington ◽  
Kevin McDonough

Why do society and the courts so readily recognize university and college teachers’ academic freedom but just as readily deny primary and secondary school teachers the same right? To investigate this question, this article considers teachers’ work in light of the standard justifications for granting academic freedom in higher education: that academic freedom is essential to promoting the capacity for critical reflection and the reliable transfer of disciplinary knowledge. Considering that society calls on teachers to play a key role in advancing both of these educational and social goods, the article argues that granting academic freedom in higher education, while denying it for primary and secondary teachers, appears to be a double standard. The claims to academic freedom typically reserved for university professors, we show, also apply to the work of primary and secondary teachers. There are significant differences between teaching in the higher education sector as opposed to the compulsory education sector. School teachers work with a conscripted clientele of minors and are therefore rightly subject to more stringent norms of public accountability. These differences notwithstanding, the concept of academic freedom, the article concludes, is a potentially powerful source of leverage for addressing concerns about the erosion of teachers’ professional autonomy and for increased teacher involvement in the elaboration and management of the regulatory frameworks that govern their work.


2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 197-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Morrison

This article considers the function of higher education in England in the responsibilization of young people as consumers of a higher education “product.” The article elaborates a two-part theoretical framework that draws upon Gramsci and Foucault. This framework is then applied to analyze the 2011 White Paper, Students at the Heart of the System. This is examined as an example of technology of neoliberal governance that works at the creation and maintenance of a community of self-reliant consumer-citizens. Significant policy developments subsequent to the 2011 paper are also discussed. The article concludes with the discussion of three issues: I will reflect upon the value of the theoretical framework employed within the study; future policy directions in the higher education sector under the new Conservative administration of 2015 will be considered; I will consider the potential for productive spaces of resistance against the ever-tightening constrictions of educational commercialization and commoditization.


2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ketevan Mamiseishvili

In this paper, I will illustrate the changing nature and complexity of faculty employment in college and university settings. I will use existing higher education research to describe changes in faculty demographics, the escalating demands placed on faculty in the work setting, and challenges that confront professors seeking tenure or administrative advancement. Boyer’s (1990) framework for bringing traditionally marginalized and neglected functions of teaching, service, and community engagement into scholarship is examined as a model for balancing not only teaching, research, and service, but also work with everyday life.


2011 ◽  
pp. 151-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Varshavsky

The article considers current problems of Russia´s science. Special attention is paid to external factors that negatively influence its effectiveness including considerable lag in public management sector. The issues of opposing higher education sector to the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) are also discussed. A number of indicators of the Russian science and its academic sector effectiveness are presented. The expediency of comparing scientific results with R&D expenditures is shown. The problems connected with using bibliometric methods are discussed. Special attention is paid to the necessity of preserving and further developing Russian science including RAS.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (4(12)) ◽  
pp. 44-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nataliia Valeriivna Tkalenko ◽  
◽  
Natalia Ivanivna Kholіavko ◽  
Kateryna Volodymyrivna Hnedina ◽  
◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-286
Author(s):  
Stanisław Leszek Stadniczeńko

The author considers the questions relating to the formation of lawyers’ professional traits from the point of view of the significance which human capital and investment in this capital hold in contemporary times. It follows from the analyses, which were carried out, that the dire need for taking up actions with the aim to shape lawyers appears one of the most vital tasks. This requires taking into account visible trends in the changing job market. Another aspect results from the need for multilevel qualifications and conditions behind lawyers’ actions and their decisions. Thus, colleges of higher education which educate prospective lawyers, as well as lawyers’ corporations, are confronted by challenges of forming, in young people, features that are indispensable for them to be valuable lawyers and not only executors of simple activities. The author points to the fact that lawyers need shaping because, among others, during their whole social lives and realization of professional tasks their personality traits and potential related to communication will constantly manifest through accepting and following or rejecting and opposing values, principles, reflexions, empathy, sensitivity, the farthest-fetched imagination, objectivism, cooperation, dialogue, distancing themselves from political disputes, etc. Students of the art of law should be characterized by a changed mentality, new vision of law – service to man, and realization of standards of law, as well as perception of the importance of knowledge, skills, attitudes and competences.


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