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I will start first :) The best motivation why I want to hold a Phd is I like learning. So, I think that the more I learn, the more I will teach others.

but mine sounds same as yours :) learning more and more in the fields I enjoy and meeting different people and discovering their repertoire and stories are my main motivations.

I agree, one must be really really really motivated take such a daunting task. This is hard work, a journey with ups and downs, yet always rewarding during and at the end of the process. My main motivation for doing a PhD was discovering my own "self" and simply "the world". The more I try to uncover some unknowns about the world the more I give meaning to my existence.

When I had my undergrduate degree I was planning to work all my life long but I realized that spending a year without learning in an academic environment was a disaster. I come from another city and travel on buses just to learn and make my life, job and environment understandable and meaningful. I am doing this as I can inspire, inform, help teachers and my students with what I gain through PhD as it helps me broaden my vision.

I think we all, Phd sts, are crazy people :-)) We have such intrinsic motivation that we can spend hours and hours on reading, writing, searching etc. People around me are always asking me how I can handle all these stuff and I sometimes ask myself the same question...And the only answer I come up with is that we all have the feeling of hunger for knowledge and nothing feeds it.

I agree with Şermin that we are really crazy though I am not in PhD level. People around me keep saying that "Are you mad? Why are you doing this?" It depends according to situations but I believe that (as you do) this is a voluntary work. We want to learn something, explore different disciplines and so on. It is a bit a part of self-actualization, I think.

I think teacher motivation is so crucial Şermin, thanks for sharing this. We mostly experience this and I believe that teachers and students feed each other in terms of motivation. When the teachers are demotivated, it is hard to motivate students or vice versa.

I think you touched such an important but sometimes ignored issue, teachers as learners should also be motivated for sure. thanks for making a recall on this :)

This is an absolutely amazing and inspiring video. After watching video, I strongly believed that barriers we have to overcome have emotional bases instead intellectual ones. Maybe if I follow 4 steps properly and focus on ı can even play guitar. In fact, it seems to me devotion and removing practise barriers are the keys to success and manageable, then why not give a try.

I liked the song in the video very much and the graphics showing the relationship between the time and skill or how we are good and the practice. However, I am not sure that 20 hour is applicable to everything to be learned. In the four steps, we can relate self-correction part to self-coaching as mentioned in the readings.

The four steps mentioned in the video have really good implications for the learners. Self correction and removing the barriers are especially important to learn anything new. However,I agree with Burcu, 20 hours of practice is not enough to acquire some kind of skills. Can anybody learn a foreign language in 20 hours? Kaufman reminded the fact that early stage of skill improvement is very fast but being an expert takes long time and effort. It is a very common phenomenon we come across in language classes. After students become intermediate or upper intermediate, they have difficulties to improve in English to be advanced learners. Expertise requires patience, motivation and continuous hard work. Students need to be patient and practice more but under the stress of proficiency exam they feel hopeless. Maybe, teachers should inform them about the stages of skill acquisition so that learners will know that what they experience is just a part of the skill acquisition process.

I used Dyned in my classes for years or I shoud say I tried to use it:) It is really hard to use technology in public schools and also Dyned is a problematic program in terms of various aspects. However, it was really surprising that all the students were eager to login in the system and use Dyned. I really wonder whether it would make any difference in student achievement if Dyned was used in schools properly.

We have a similar program in my workplace, "Azarinteractive". However, students are extra demotivated to use it though they have chance to practice listening and so forth. I think you are lucky Pınar, to have eager students to use such a tool. :)))

I liked this source too much. As the role of the teacher: "The instructor's role moves from providing and structuring the information and knowledge through lectures and presentations to modeling, coaching, and scaffolding learners as they use information and create knowledge to solve contextual real-life problems". I ask myself: To what extent, I create such authentic environments in my classes.

That is such an inevitable and reasonable concern; the extent we imply authentic environments in our classrooms. Sometimes it is for the sake of applying without including the essential elements of authentic learning. Time concerns or motivation and knowledge levels of teachers might be some issues related.

I totally agree with you :) Also insistence is important (especially for Sheldon). I also think that it is not just for learning but also for everything in life. Inner energy, self-motivation, triggering and curiosity come first before other steps while doing smt.

yes I agree there:) all very important constructs for learning and other important tasks in life to occur. And I especially love the part where Sheldon yells "how can you not know, I have just told you" :)))

It is really enjoyable, thanks for sharing this. But, it reminded me of myself as a novice teacher and I was totally like Sheldon but I had not one Penny and almost in every class there were 40 Pennys:) Every class was project gorilla for me and at the end of every class I got exhausted. At the end of that year I admitted that I was bat at teaching and even I decide to quit. Now, I cannot say that I am perfectly good at teaching but I have realized and admitted every student has their own rate of learning and as you have said interest, motivation and piror knowledge is indispensable.

I was also thinking about 'Project Gorilla' and who or what they are in our 'Agora's! For me teaching itself is 'Project Gorilla' and all learning environments are 'Agora'. Unknown objects, stars, are could be learners who are waiting to be discovered. I did enjoy while watching Sheldon and how Penny behaves during the lesson. Thanks!

I agree with you Afranur, the video reminded me of my personal teaching experience as well, especially at my first year, getting to realize that each and every student had unique characteristics was difficult for me and I had hard times like you:) But we will get better I am sure, by taking into account the things we both underlined. Teaching itself is a Project Gorilla, that's so true :)

I deeply believe the power of motivation to learn and classroom technology can be used to enhance students' motivation in learning of the specific content. Still, it is open to debate effective use of technology in classrooms, especially in our country. To deal with this inefficiency of classroom technology, we need to focus on teachers' technology literacy and try to develop this literacy.

Hi Özlem Hoca, BBC news you shared with us is very advisable to our friends. (1) I agree that computers may have the possibility to be distractors for learning and they may be abused by some students. Students may prefer to use computers for activities other than for school activities. When I was an intern teacher, I wanted to show how a literature search is performed to my 20, 9th grade "Project" (noncredit course) students in 2006, I ended up running from one student to another because as I leave him/her with his/her search, s/he began to sign in facebook and their emails. (2) I also agree that plagiarism may occur in homeworks due to internet resources. (3) Another interesting opinion in this news is that "We're training the students to use technology which hasn't yet been invented." We are training the students to the future that is not defined, not yet clear.

I think integrating technology in classrooms is inevitable as computers have been being used in lots of areas in the world and it is a little bit optimistic to assume that education will escape from this "invasion". Today's students live with technology and indeed, technology can enhance the representation of a topic, communication among learners, eliminate time and space limitations in reaching information, etc. The article says that "frequent" use of computers in schools is more likely to be associated with lower results. Instead of frequent use, one should know how one can healthily get benefit from computers, when to use it, how to use it, when not to use it, etc. Those questions are still major questions in modern educational science research. Findings from such research can enhance the positive impact of technology in classrooms.

Having read this week's reading assignment, a part of which focuses on this particular result, I felt the need to comment on your share Özlem hocam. It is mentioned in Chapter 1: Introduction that "in the 1980s, cognitive scientists like Roger Schank and Seymour Papert made claims that computers would transform the schools and learning. This was a rather radical claim and it helped form a strong consensus among parents, bussiness community, politicians that getting computers into schools was a must. During 1990s, installing computers and the Internet in schools was a major trend. By 2003, 95% of all the schools in the US had their computers and were connected to the Internet. However, the impact of this huge investment was highly disappointing. Studies had shown computer use was not correlated with improved student performance. When the reserachers began to study to find the reason, they found out that the computer use in schools was not based on learning sciences; instead, they were being used as an extension of instructional classroom. By this I mean, bringing technology to the classrooms was not enough without changing the structure of instruction. Educational software has been based on instructionist theories, with the computer performing roles that are traditionally performed by the teacher. Teachers and students were not aware of how to use those computers efficiently. Students read the texts on the computers instead of reading them on books.Learning scientists continue to emphasize the powerful role that computers can play in transforming all learning. But they reject instructionalism and behaviorism. Instead, they present a new vision of computers in schools. They suggest that computer should take on a more facilitating role, helping learners have the kind of experiences that lead to deep learning."

Hi, When I was reading motivation chapter, I have thought that the following statement can be true for this activity However, attempts to enhance interest can backfire and decrease learning. Brophy (1999) cautioned against using "bells and whistles" to obtain interest. Evidence from the interest literature specifically cautions against using seductive details in text (Schraw & Lehman, 2001). Seductive details are highly interesting for students, but may draw attention toward issues that are less relevant, potentially deflecting attention away from key ideas. Using classroom demonstrations in science that include explosions or other attention getting devices has similar effects. What do you think? Is there any rule for engaging classroom activities to increase learning

It is a nice movie and a nice illustration of the flow theory:) thanks for sharing it...

Actually, I really like the last verses of him; I am pretty tired, I think I'll go home now:) Because that is the way I feel when I really get tired of doing something even if the activity is in my flow channel :)

So let's hope that we will have this tireness just in the end of this 'long run' of EDS542 ;)

I really liked your share on this movie. This made me think of some example movies, in Dekalog 1 movie, there was this little boy who continually asked questions on life's big issues, trying to figure out meaning. His learning motivation was so high, maybe that can be an additional example :)