Diminishing the Dread: Exploring service learning and student motivation

Abstract

Dread is an unfortunate, yet all too common occurrence in the classroom. It often arises when a student has little motivation toward a class or its content. As an instructor of a traditionally “dreaded” class (Design History I), my goal was to seek ways to increase student motivation for the topic of design history and historic preservation. To do so, I designed a service learning project that incorporated Deci and Ryan’s Self-Determination Theory (1985, 2000), and its constructs of: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. During the project students worked with the local City Planner on designing a series of informational placemats to be used in downtown restaurants during Historic Preservation Month. Students were tasked with searching the town for buildings that merited inclusion, then photographing, and documenting their history. To do this, they worked in groups and applied for specific roles on the project (i.e. Editor-in-Chief, Copy Editor, Graphic Editor, or Information Scout). Following project completion, I collected surveys and student reflections to understand the project’s successes, failures, and any resulting changes in student motivation. This article describes my process of designing the project, its implementation, and my student’s perceptions following its completion. It is hoped that this design case may provide instructors in “dreaded” courses tools to increase long-term student motivation.