Recognizing expectations, beliefs, and motivations is a universal design for learning (UDL) guideline that supports multiple means of engagement. The UDL guidelines were developed by an organization called CAST. This article will explore how teachers and other educators can help learners expect and believe that they can achieve their goals.
Recognizing Expectations, Beliefs, and Motivations in Universal Design for Learning
Recognizing expectations, beliefs, and motivations means providing learners the support they need to overcome frustration or anxiety. After learners have set goals, they need to maintain their motivation as they work toward attaining those goals. However, learners who become anxious or frustrated may begin to believe they cannot accomplish what they planned. In other words, learners may lose their motivation.
Strategies for Recognizing Expectations, Beliefs, and Motivations
Teachers can use many strategies for recognizing expectations, beliefs, and motivations. For instance, teachers can show learners how to set personal goals based on their own strengths and things they wish to improve. Learners with many models for goal-setting can recognize how each person’s goals are based on what motivates them. In addition, teachers can promote projects that help learners think thoroughly about and choose their own goals. For example, a school might hold a multi-cultural day to celebrate the heritages of all students and educators. Each student could choose their own way of honouring a culture they belong to, or a culture they feel drawn to, such as:
- Cooking or baking
- Making decorations
- Creating playlists
- Reenacting important historical events
Each learner could create their own goal and decide what steps to take to achieve it.
Furthermore, teachers can give learners strategies to reduce or avoid anxiety or frustration when they work toward their goals. For instance, teachers can give learners reminders to reflect on or monitor progress toward their goals. Similarly, teachers can give learners prompts or checklists to help them avoid distractions or other threats to learning. Likewise, teachers can provide guides to help learners stay calm during times of frustration and successfully plan strategies needed to accomplish their goals.
Biases Limiting Motivation
Finally, teachers can consider how implicit or explicit biases shape expectations or beliefs that limit learners’ motivations. For example, a teacher may believe that math is too visual for a learner who is blind. In other words, the teacher has biased expectations of what this learner can achieve. Moreover, bias in favour of visual math instruction limits the access of all learners. Furthermore, a learner perceiving that their teacher does not believe in them may lose motivation to engage in class. In contrast, the teacher could examine this bias and recognize that they should be more proactive in supporting multiple ways to perceive information. When the teacher examines and removes their biases, more learners can have motivation to succeed.