ARCS Model

According to John Keller’s ARCS Model of Motivational Design, there are four steps for promoting and sustaining motivation in the learning process: Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction (ARCS).

Attention
For any learning to happen you must first gain the attention of the learners. You can use various methods to gain attention. It can be as simple as a game or a humor activity to get the learners involved with the subject matter. You can also pose questions or problems for them to solve.

Relevance
Only if the learners find relevance in the content they would be motivated to learn. You can tell them how the new learning will help them build on their existing skills. You can also inform the learners how the course will help them in the future.

Confidence
You must help the learners to gain confidence that they can succeed. You need to provide them objectives and also help them feel that they can achieve those objectives. You also need to ensure that the learners are aware of the performance criteria on which they will be evaluated.

Satisfaction
Learning must be rewarding or satisfying in some way. You also need to provide feedback on their performance. When they are satisfied with the results they will be motivated to learn more. You must be also take care that you don’t exaggerate the learner’s performance by over-rewarding easy tasks.