Understanding First Year Students Motivations for Social Justice - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Understanding First Year Students’ Motivations for Social Justice Engagement

Presented by Heather Wilhelm-Routenberg and robbie routenberg of InciteChange! Consulting

• InciteChange! Consulting partners with colleagues, universities and nonprofit
• rganizations engaging students, staff and faculty in reflection and skill

development to deepen social justice conversations, practice, and impact.

• Using various pedagogical models we assist individuals and organizations in

acquiring the tools to foster sustainable social change.

Agenda

• Introducing InciteChange! Consulting and webinar format
• Talk together about strategies for participant engagement
• Introduce Motivation Theory, it’s applicability to Student Development

Theory and methods for application to social justice work

• Collectively address the challenges of applying Motivation Theory
• Concluding Remarks

Technology & Access

• Use the Chat feature for thoughts/comments/questions during the presentation.
• During facilitate discussion use the “talk”

feature on the upper right of your screen.

• Please turn your microphone OFF

when not speaking (to eliminate disruption)

Webinar Objectives

• Explore how practitioners can utilize students’ motivations for social justice

involvement to reach a broader audience, to have a broader impact break group-think mentality.

• Encourage the group to consider how a student’s degree of Intercultural

Maturity impacts their reception of social justice concepts.

• Celebrate that we’ve come together today as a community of scholar-

practitioners committed to social justice education- and to learn from one another.

Group Discussion

• What strategies do you currently use to try to reach a broader audience?
• While we should celebrate participants who are already involved in social

justice work, what would the benefit be of broadening your reach?

Motivation Theory

“Aspiring social justice ally development: a conceptual model” (Edwards, 2006)

Three Motivations for Social Justice Engagement

• Self-Interest - The motivation to care because the issues directly impact the

individual or people close to them and they seek to create justice for these specific individuals.

• Altruism - The motivation to care fueled by a desire to ‘help’ others (e.g.,

social groups they are not a part of) and create justice for them.

• Social Justice - The motivation to care because they understand the

interconnectedness of social issues and how working together creates justice for everyone.

Edwards, K. E. (2006). Aspiring social justice ally identity

• development. NASPA Journal 43(3), 39-60.

Motivation Theory

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation (Ryan and Deci, 2000)

Intrinsic Motivation

• Pertains to an action one completes because it is personally interesting or

enjoyable

• Examples: “Self-Interest”, “Altruistic” and “Social Justice” as defined by

Edwards (2006)

Ryan, R.M. & Deci, E.L. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 54-67.

Extrinsic Motivation

• Pertains to actions completed to attain results that are rooted in external

factors/people

• Examples: resume building, peer pressure/guilt, family pressures, class

requirement

Ryan, R.M. & Deci, E.L. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 54-67.

Group Discussion

• What are you compromising in your approach to programming in order to

draw in people who are extrinsically motivated?

• What are you gaining?

Applying Motivation & Student Development Theories

Exploring Barriers and Strategies for Motivation and Engagement

Theory Students Barrier to Engagement Strategy for Motivation & Engagement Group Development Theory - Tuckman, 1965 They are beginning to acclimate to the university environment, building trust, cohesion, and a sense of community with those around them Committing to social justice work requires that one takes risks and challenges their worldview, practices that often rely on an existing foundation

• f trust.
• Host programs in residence halls
• r other places where relationships

already exist.

• Integrate curriculum into existing

courses, so students have extrinsic motivation to engage while trust is building.

• Tip for challenging: Encourage

participants to take risks and share

• honestly. If this happens, the

facilitators will have an

• pportunity to productively

navigate conflict, creating a deeper connection where the group forms, can storm in productive ways that will lead to positive norming within the group.

Theory Students Barrier to Engagement Strategy for Motivation & Engagement Cognitive Development - King & Baxter Magolda 2005 They may exhibit dualistic thinking believing that issues have

• ne right and one wrong

answer, and may only respect the perspectives

• f authorities as credible

and legitimate. Social justice engagement heavily relies on both reflection and dialogue, two pedagogies that recognize multiple truths and students as generators of knowledge.

• Capitalize on the faculty/staff

partnership, working cohesively to market these events, knowing that faculty draw respected authority.

• Validate students as “knowers”. As

they build increasing confidence it leads to greater trust in self and

• group. Check out Ryan & Deci’s

(2000) Cognitive Evaluation Theory (i.e. you’re more likely to be intrinsically motivated when you feel competent in a task/action)

• Tip for challenging: Use videos,

articles, and other media to spark conversation, instead of starting with personal storytelling and reflection (b’c videos and media can be seen as authority.)

Theory Students Barrier to Engagement Strategy for Motivation & Engagement Intrapersonal Development - King & Baxter Magolda 2005 They may have an undeveloped understanding of identities, values and cultures different from their own. In this phase students have a lack of awareness of one’s own values and identities and therefore others’ experiences can be threatening. “my experience is the

• nly experience”

This lack of information may lead them to assume that

• thers share their beliefs

and/or view these differences as threats.

• Find means to make the marketing

appeal to students, so they can see the relevance to themselves.

• Try to have the marketing sent out by

groups whose focus (identity, hobby, career) is similar to the participants you are targeting so that they see that it is implicitly connected to them.

• Tip for challenging: In structuring

the curriculum consider using media to present various beliefs or facilitate a dialogue where participants are sharing these various beliefs. Bring in multiple perspectives to demonstrate that multiple perspectives exist and to draw that broader audience- regardless of identities!

Theory Students Barrier to Engagement Strategy for Motivation & Engagement Interpersonal Development - King & Baxter Magolda 2005 They develop relationships with people who share their identities and worldview, and therefore lack exposure to other viewpoints and

• experiences. They have

less exposure to issues of injustice except for ones that directly impact them

• r people close to them.

Because social justice education

• ften relies on intergroup

discussion, students who haven’t had significant exposure to these mixed settings may feel unprepared and nervous.

• Partner with existing student
• rganizations where people of

shared identities/worldview are already assembled to bring a workshop to their meeting.

• Tip for challenging: Work with

existing student organizations to bring two very different

• rganizations together for a
• workshop. This ensures some variety
• f identity, experience, and
• worldview. If they have a positive

experience, then they will be more likely to engage across difference in the future.

Theory Students Barrier to Engagement Strategy for Motivation & Engagement Motivated by “Self-Interest”

• Edwards 2006

They care because the issues directly impact the individual or people close to them and they seek to create justice for these specific individuals. They lack desire to learn about issues that don’t directly relate to themselves or people close to them. They do not see issues as interrelated.

• Host single-issue forums and target

program marketing to students who already are impacted by these issues (directly or indirectly) may draw new faces.

• Tip for challenging: Introduce

(explicitly or implicitly) the connections and intersections between identities. Through storytelling, draw out the empathy that participants feel for others in and outside of the room, based on

• ther social identities.

Theory Students Barrier to Engagement Strategy for Motivation & Engagement Motivated by “Altruism” - Edwards 2006 They care because they are fueled by a desire to ‘help’ others (e.g., social groups they are not a part

• f) and create justice for

them. They do not understand how these social issues also affect them, and are interconnected with other issues. They have not yet developed a critical consciousness for how “helping” can further belittle or marginalize individuals/groups, despite good intentions.

• Service learning opportunities can

be a great way to engage these students who want to ‘help’ others when informed by the Asset-Based Community Development Model (Kretzmann & McKnight).

• Tip for challenging: Once

involved, facilitate deeper exploration of the relevant social issues and the power dynamics between them and the communities they work alongside.

Theory Students Barrier to Engagement Strategy for Motivation & Engagement Motivated by “Social Justice” – Edwards They care because they understand the interconnectedness of social issues and how working together creates justice for everyone. They can be impatient with

• ther participants who are not

motivated by some complex

• thinking. It can be frustrating

especially to engage with participants who are not intrinsically motivated.

• Offer opportunities for these

students to caucus with others who are similarly motivated. Marketing geared towards exploring the complexity of identity and systems

• f oppression may be appealing to

these group alone.

• Tip for challenging: In order to be

most effective, these students need to learn to engage productively with

• thers with are differently
• motivated. Create opportunities for

a variety of participants to be

• present. Also consider training some
• f these students as Peer Facilitators

so they can be a part of breaking these cycles.

Addressing Challenges of Applying Motivation Theory

Challenges for Practitioners and Students

Challenges Practitioners Might Face

• Need to internally recognize that non-intrinsic motivations are also valid.
• Sometimes comments from extrinsically motivated participants will be less

developed and maybe even offensive.

• Tip! - Practitioners must be equipped with facilitation techniques that

challenge participants in constructive and supportive ways. This can require significant empathy and patience from a facilitator.

Challenges that Students Might Face

• Increased conflict and disagreement can occur between participants in a

group with mixed motivations.

• Tip! - If small group discussions are used, participants can share their honest

thoughts with less apprehension of embarrassing themselves or others.

• Tip! - Begin sessions by establishing guidelines about the environment you

wish to establish can prevent unhealthy conflict.

Thank You!

Please send us your comments & feedback! You can find us at: Heather: Heather@iincitechange.org robbie: robbie@iincitechange.org incitechange consulting @iincitechange Website – www.iincitechange.org