How to Diagnose and Improve Low Student Motivation in Your Courses
Brett D. Jones, Virginia Tech
Abstract: It can be fairly easy to identify when students are unmotivated in a course. For example,
students may be unresponsive or looking at their phones or laptops. It can be harder, however, to
know exactly why students are unmotivated. In fact, different students may be unmotivated for
different reasons. The MUSICSM Model of Academic Motivation Inventory (Jones, 2015) was
designed to help instructors identify groups of strategies that can be used to improve students’
motivation. In this conference session, I lead an interactive activity designed to help participants
understand how they can use the MUSIC Inventory to diagnose and improve students’ motivation.
Because the inventory is linked directly to teaching strategies, participants will begin to consider
teaching strategies that they can use in their courses. Participants will leave this session with an
understanding of what the MUSIC Inventory is and how to use it in their courses, with the
ultimate goal of being able to intentionally design instruction that motivates students.
Literature Review
The MUSICSM Model of Motivation was developed to help instructors design courses that engage students in
learning (Jones, 2009). The MUSIC model consists of five components that have been researched extensively over
many years by many researchers to support student engagement in academic settings: eMpowerment, Usefulness,
Success, Interest, and Caring (MUSIC is an acronym that is used to help instructors remember these five
components). The five key principles of the model are that the instructor needs to ensure that students:
1. feel empowered by having the ability to make decisions about some aspects of their learning,
2. understand why what they are learning is useful for their short- or long-term goals,
3. believe that they can succeed if they put forth the effort required,
4. are interested in the content and instructional activities, and
5. believe that the instructor and others in the learning environment care about their learning and about them
as a person (Jones, 2009).
The MUSIC model components are explained briefly in this section and more fully in Jones (2009) and at the
MUSIC model website (www.theMUSICmodel.com).
The empowerment component refers to the amount of perceived control that students have over their learning.
Instructors can empower students by supporting their autonomy. The usefulness component involves the extent to
which students believe that the coursework (e.g., assignments, activities, readings) is useful for their short- or longterm goals. One implication is that instructors need to ensure that students understand the connection between the
coursework and their goals. The success component is based on the idea that students need to believe that they can
succeed if they put forth the appropriate effort. Instructors can foster students’ success beliefs in a variety of ways,
including making the course expectations clear, challenging students at an appropriate level, and providing students
with regular feedback. The interest component includes situational interest, which refers to the immediate, shortterm enjoyment of instructional activities. Instructors can create situational interest by designing instruction and
coursework that incorporates novelty, social interaction, games, humor, surprising information, and/or that
engenders emotions (Bergin, 1999). The caring component includes the degree to which students feel that the
instructors or other students care about their academic success and well-being. To support caring, instructors can
show concerning for students’ success and failures, listen to and value students’ opinions and ideas, and devote time
and energy to helping students (Jones, 2009).
The MUSICSM Model of Academic Motivation Inventory (Jones, 2015) was designed to help instructors identify
specific strategies that can be used to improve students’ motivation. The MUSIC Inventory measures students’
perceptions of each of the five MUSIC model components. The MUSIC inventory has been shown to produce valid
scores across many different types of college courses (Jones & Skaggs, in press).
Goals and Objectives
By the end of the session, participants will:
 understand what the MUSIC Inventory is and how to use it in their courses and
 have identified some teaching strategies that they can use to motivate their students.
Description of Practice
The session will be organized in the following order:
 25 minutes – Participants will engage in an interactive activity to learn what the MUSIC Inventory is and
how to use it in their courses.
 20 minutes – I will lead a discussion about the key components of the MUSIC model and the related
strategies that can be used to motivate students.
 5 minutes – I will answer final questions from participants.
References
Bergin, D. A. (1999). Influences on classroom interest. Educational Psychologist, 34, 87-98.
Jones, B. D. (2009). Motivating students to engage in learning: The MUSIC Model of academic motivation.
International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 21(3), 272-285.
Jones, B. D. (2015). User guide for assessing the components of the MUSICSM Model of Motivation. Retrieved from
http://www.theMUSICmodel.com
Jones, B. D., & Skaggs, G. E. (in press). Measuring students’ motivation: Validity evidence for the MUSIC Model
of Academic Motivation Inventory. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.