Presentation given to IPFW Student Affairs and Enrollment Management for staff development on November 22nd, 2013.

1. 3 Motivational Challenges to Student Academic Success
Dr. Gordon B. Schmidt, PhD
Organizational Leadership & Supervision
11/22/2013

2. Why is he texting in class?
IPFW is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access University.

3. Multiple goals
• People often have many different things going
on in their lives
• Work-family-school balance- needs from all 3
domains
• And potentially a whole host of others
• All need effort and attention
• They all have time deadlines and goals that
overlap in time
IPFW is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access University.

4. #1: People always have multiple goals
And they are working on them at the same time
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5. Goal setting over time
• My dissertation looked at how people set and
change personal goals over time
• Lab study- each condition given different
assigned goals
IPFW is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access University.

6. Goal setting over time
• Donovan & Williams (2003)
• Looked at changing goals of track athletes over
course of a season
• Found runners reduced goals over time toward
actual performance, especially in 2nd half
• Initial season goals often below previous best
• Campion & Lord (1982)
• Students in a college course setting course grade
goals
• Test scores below goal led to downward goal
revision of course goal
IPFW is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access University.

7. 2. People use performance information to modify goals
So the goal they had yesterday might not be the goal today
• Goals motivate people to put in effort and direct
attention
• But personal goals can be and are often
changed
• Tie our goals to what seems reasonable and
likely
IPFW is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access University.

8. Procrastination
Piers Steel Research
IPFW is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access University.
How have you
seen students
procrastinate?

9. Procrastination
• People make decisions about what to do (or
delay doing) based on perceived current utility
• They look to their time to deadline, preferences,
and anxieties
IPFW is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access University.

10. 3. People do what seems to have most present marginal value
And these preferences differ significantly from person to person
• Can make it hard for people to work toward far
off goals, especial if their value seems
ambiguous or hard to fathom
• Utility difference means each person’s
reactions can be pretty unique
IPFW is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access University.

11. So we got some issues
• We want them to focus on school
• But they have goals across domains (#1)
• We want to help them create goals that
motivate them
• But then its easy for them to modify those
goals over time (#2)
• We want to help them set goals that help them
to graduate and be successful in school
• But graduation is often long term and
relatively far away (#3)
IPFW is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access University.

12. So what can we do?
• 3 major means of help:
• Implementation Intentions
• Proximal and Distal Goals
• Tasks that overlap goal domains
• These help us to take the problems we know
are there and have interventions that help
those specific issues
IPFW is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access University.

13. 1. Implementation Intentions
• Work by Gollwitzer (1999; & Brandstatter,
1997)
• We often have good intentions but don’t follow
through
• when, where, and how of responses leading to
goal attainment
• Link anticipated critical situations to goaldirected responses
• Ex. "Whenever situation x arises, I will initiate
the goal-directed response y!".
IPFW is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access University.

14. Implementation Intentions
• So these help by having clear behaviors to
implement in goal related situations
• Goal Ex. Reduce litter in my neighbor
• Implementation Intention Ex. When I see litter I
will pick it up immediately
• Implementation Intention Ex. When I see
someone litter I will scold them
IPFW is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access University.

15. Implementation Intentions
• Goal: To get an A on the first exam in a class
• What are some potential implementation
intentions for this?
IPFW is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access University.

16. 2. Proximal & Distal Goals
• We can have goals that vary on their time
horizons
• Distal goals: ultimate goal for the future
• Ex. Get my college degree
• Proximal goals: goals that are more near in
time
• Ex. Get an A on my next exam
• We can use proximal goals as more short term goals
that lead up to completion of that long term distal goal
IPFW is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access University.

17. Proximal & Distal Goal Examples
• (Distal) Goal: Get a B for a course
• What are some proximal goals we could set?
IPFW is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access University.

18. 3. Tasks that overlap domains
• If students have multiple goals then tasks that help
fulfill multiple goals at once are especially
appealing
• Highlighting or framing aspects of education that
help other goals
• Education and family goals
• Ex. Communication class helps
you to understand and talk to loved ones better
IPFW is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access University.

19. Tasks that overlap domains
• Education and work goals
• Focus on application of course content to
work domains
• Ex. focus on how knowledge of topic will
help you to understand better organizational
events and other workers’ motivations
• Education and recreational goals
• Use “fun” activities in course of learning
Others?
IPFW is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access University.

20. Overall Summary
• How people naturally set, revise, and use goals
over time offers challenges to how goals have
an impact
• In understanding these factors we can do
particular intervention and find ways
to structure goals that help them
to remain effective
• We need to always be on the lookout for
applying these methods and coming up with
new ones that fit with reality!
IPFW is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access University.