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One benefit of flow theory is that it presumes that motivation, cognition, and affect are situational

have the skills to accomplish them

Flow Theory Print Collect It! var shared = false; if(!window['loadedCollectionJS']) { window['loadedCollectionJS'] = true; Asset.javascript('/js/moo/collections/collections.js'); } var scripts = $$('script'), thisScriptTag = scripts[scripts.length - 1], el = thisScriptTag.getPrevious('.collect-button-wrap'); if(el) { el.store('collectPath', "http://www.education.com/reference/article/flow-theory/") } var switchTo5x=true;stLight.options({publisher:'d0d0d8a8-d1f8-49ff-9318-fed5383cff80',doNotHash:true,NotCopy:true,hashAddressBar:false});Email var sharedemail = false; (function() { stLight.options({ onhover: false, clickCallBack: function(){ if(typeof window.sharedemail != 'undefined') { new Request({ method: 'post', url: '/service/service.'+'php?sn=sharelog&f=ase&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.education.com%2Freference%2Farticle%2Fflow-theory%2F&ceid=41882&click=email'}).send(); sharedemail=true; } } }); stWidget.addEntry({ 'service':'email', title:"Flow Theory", summary: "", url: "http://www.ed"+"ucation.com/reference/article/flow-theory/", element: document.getElementById("sharethis-7167") }); })(); if(!window['plusoneloaded']) { new Asset.javascript('https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js'); window['plusoneloaded'] = true; } function plusone_vote( obj ) { //track in Google Analytics _gaq.push(['_trackEvent','plusone',obj.state]); //track in Omniture if((typeof(window.Omniture) != 'undefined')) { var params = {evars:{5:obj.state}}; if(obj.state == 'on') params.events = [6]; Omniture.fireEvent(params,'Google Plus One Click'); } } By Amy Schweinle | Andrea Bjornestad Updated on Dec 23, 2009 MAJOR RESEARCH METHODS FACTORS INFLUENCING FLOW AND MOTIVATIONAL CONSEQUENCES IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHERS Flo

not only do activities with high challenge matched with high skill offer the best opportunities for learning, but they also provide an optimal environment for positive affect and intrinsic motivation.

eachers must provide optimal challenge and support for competence (or skill)

(a) provided immediate, constructive feedback, (b) encouraged students to persist, (c) encouraged cooperation rather than competition, (d) supported student autonomy, (e) ensured that new challenges were tempered with support to match students' skill, (f) emphasized the importance of the material, and (g) pressed students to understand the principles rather than memorize algorithms.

A flow experience has got to be challenging

So goals are important?

Flow depends on the ability to engage in intense concentration

A teacher’s ethical caring means genuine caring, aspiring to understand and make an effort for pupils’ protection, support, and development. Because of this pedagogical caring, the teacher especially pursues pupils’ potential to develop and thus help them to find and use their own strengths.

Pedagogical love has been considered the core factor in the definition of good teacherhood for decades, though the characteristics of a good teacher have always included a variety of features. Features such as the ability to maintain discipline and order, set a demanding goal level, and the mastery of substance have been especially emphasized (e.g., Davis, 1993; Zombylas, 2007; Hansen, 2009)

Love influences the direction of people’s action as well as its intensity. Positive emotions, joy, strength, and the feeling of being capable lead mental energy toward the desired goal (Rantala & Määttä, 2011). Negative emotions, grief, fear, and anger cause entropy, an inner imbalance that burns off energy, brands the target with negative status, and pursues nullifying and undervaluing (e.g., Isen, 2001).

he educator’s task is to provide pupils with such stimuli and environment where students are guided to limit their instincts by controlling enjoyment and vital-based values, in order to be able to achieve higher values and skills (Solasaari, 2003).

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1990, 2000) has launched the concept that refers to an optimal or autotelic experience where people are riveted so comprehensively by a challenging performance that the awareness of time and place blurs. Flow is possible when the challenges in a task are balanced with an actor’s abilities. Flow is an enjoyable state of concentration and task orientation, leading to optimal performance, whether the case is wall creeping, chess playing, dancing, surgery, studying languages, painting, or composing music.

This sets challenges for skill development. If a task is too easy, it will bore. If it is too difficult, it will cause anxiety and fear. The exact experience of flow and the active sense of well-being resulting from the former, encourage people to develop and improve their skills. People are willing to strive for flow whether it was about love for math, art, programming, or orthopedics (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).

In an interview, Gardner (as cited in Goleman, 1999) said flow is intrinsically rewarding without the hope for reward or threat of punishment. We should use learners’ positive moods (love) and through it get them to learn things about fields they can succeed in. People have to discover what they like, what things and doings they love and do these things. Even a child learns the best when he/she loves what he/she is doing and finds it enjoyable. (p. 126)

Pedagogical love might contribute to pupils’ learning and success by providing them with positive learning experiences, initial excitement, and perceived successes. These are the seeds of expertise as a positive feeling that can be considered the source of human strengths (Isen, 2001).

Pedagogical love springs from an individual learner’s presence persuading it to come forward more and more perfectly and diversely. A skillful educator does not just sit by and watch if a learner makes worthless choices or fails in his or her opportunities to grow and develop.

Haavio emphasized the meaning of pedagogical love in teachers’ work and considered that teachers’ work consists of the following two obligations: attachment to learners and dutiful perseverance of life values.

Pedagogical love speaks to interdependence—the recognition and acceptance that we need others.

Love appears in teaching as guidance toward disciplined work, but also as patience, trust, and forgiveness. The purpose is not to make learning fun, easy, or pleasing but to create a setting for learning where pupils can use and develop their own resources eventually proceeding at the maximum of their own abilities

A loving teacher reveals for a pupil the dimensions of his or her development in a manner of speaking. This is how a pupil’s self-esteem strengthens and he or she can develop toward higher activities from the lowest, pleasure-oriented ones. Achieving high-level skills is rewarding because it brings pleasure, and yet, it often demands—as mentioned previously—self-discipline and rejections

A teacher’s work is interpersonal and relational, with a teacher’s own personality fundamental to building relationships with students. A teacher’s work involves plenty of emotional strain. In addition, a teacher inevitably has to experience frustration in his or her work. There are many situations when a teacher will feel like she or he has failed regardless of the solution he or she creates.

Consequently, teachers are likely to experience guilt because they cannot sufficiently attend to all pupils in an appropriate way that is congruent with the notion of caring.

However, teachers have to realize that their own coping, motivation, and engagement require attention; they are not automatic.

Pedagogical love emerges through teachers’ emotions, learned models, moral attitude, and actions

Good teachers are examples to learners even in the most difficult life situations. Teachers have to believe in their work and endeavour to build a nurturing environment and a more humane world.

To be happy about life, to guide students to see the wonder and joy in the mundane is a teacher’s most important skill. Being able to help students find and negotiate the joy, wonder, happiness, and pain in the everydayness of life is an increasingly important quality in today’s insecurities, with the mounting pressure of increased demands for efficiency

combination of motivation, concentration, interest, and enjoyment

feeling the need to achieve—in the absence of true student engagement—led to cheating, sleepless nights, depression, and drug abuse

felt that their activities were under their own control and relevant to their lives

lessons that offer choice, are connected to students’ goals, and provide both challenges and opportunities for success that are appropriate to students’ level of skill.

balance between the challenge of the activity and the skills of the person engaged in that activity

Many afterschool programs also foster high levels of flow

by one person only

It is a good idea to discuss and identify the tasks at the beginning of the group work. The key is to divide the work and let individual team member’s work on their tasks. Finally, bring together all the work and make sure it blends in. The work should flow and sound as if it was don

It is recommended to define a communication plan and communicate regularly with an instant manager or video chat.

All group members should have their own tasks for which they are responsible. If done accurately, they should be rewarded in terms of acknowledgement in the form of a group thank you message

I feel as though students must be subscribed to forums, but be forewarned that they need to develop a system for themselves to allow for tracking of the dialogue and how they want to participate in that dialogue.

my presence could be demonstrated in other ways than just logging in daily or talking to students.

I came to realize that

This is were the “earth-shattering” part comes in.  I am learning that I am not letting the students go.  I am going to be there.

I can fully see the difference between f2f and online teaching and WHY those differences exist.

In the beginning of this course my intention was to translate my f2f assignments and activities to an online format.  This made me feel comfortable as I knew that these activities worked for me and for most of my students.  Yet, as I began to learn about presence and community it became apparent that these f2f activities did not embody presence or community building.  They represented ease for me, and that cannot be the focus in online learning.

Yet, I know I will always want to be tweaking my activities!

My two issues with online education before the start of this class dealt with the actual education being offered as well as the connections being formed.

But the theory in this course has allowed me to see that in practice, online education can allow for a sound education and a classroom community that can match that of most f2f classrooms.

Online learning allows an instructor the opportunity to put everything into place before the course starts so that students come in being able to see all that they need to be successful.  This may not always be the case with f2f courses.  Additionally, to make sure that such theories as presence and community are present in online courses online instructors often have to do more to ensure success in their classes.  For these reasons I am starting to believe that online education, when combined with effective theories can eventually surpass f2f learning.

I am not decisive as I would like to be.

While it probably should not be surprising that I feel prepared to teach online at the end of a course in online teaching, for me, I feel as though it is quite a surprising development and one I hope to pursue.

The article  written by Mark Edmundson, a professor at UVA, questions the validity of online learning. 

I have discovered that my thoughts are completely different on online education as a result of this class.  While this is probably not a huge development it has been interesting to watch my opinions change so much.  So, for the moment that is where I am.

I discovered that just inserting technology does not suddenly make things better. 

I leave this course knowing that presence is more than just responding to students. 

Being truly present requires that the students feel your presence as they are completing assignments and learning – knowing what is expected of them and what they expect of the instructor.

if a student knows what to do and how to do it (presence) he/she might feel more comfortable branching out in discussions and discussing points with a majority of students instead of just discussing with the same people at the same time.  But community depends heavily on presence and the two really work in tandem.

Yet, the blame lies solely with me for just assuming that my students know how to do something.

Instead, instructors, both f2f and online, need to assume that their students do not know how to do something.  Taking the time to explain something may seem tedious but it will provide for greater clarification, greater learning, and more meaningful assessments.  Taking the time to just let students know what to do and how to do it has the potential of increasing the enjoyment of learning for all involved!

  I truly struggled with this course and I walk away feeling fantastic about it.

Coming into this course I figured we would read a few articles about online education and create a course shell for an online course.  Additionally, I came into this course assuming online education failed to meet the standards of f2f education. Now, my thoughts are completely changed. 

Leaving this course I feel as though I could write an effective rebuttal of that argument and I believe that illustrates a great amount of growth for a person who entered this class questioning the merits of online education.

Yet, I feel as this is one of the first courses that will let me leave with having a profound change in thinking. 

Online education is the way of the future and more important, it needs to be done correctly.

o in my new “educated” role, I would like to try and be an advocate for online education.  I will try to discuss the field more often and when I hear someone mention online education I will ask them what they know about it and what they think about it.  Striking up conversations allow for the spread of ideas and maybe eventually online education will gain the same prominence that many f2f courses currently possess. (4)