Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Future Orientation of Goals(post 3)

After I read the section under "Future Orientation of Goals" in chapter 11 the first thing I thought about was online classes. Most of the online classes I have experienced were great and most of the professors interacted with the students. But I have taken just a few online classes in the past when the professor would take over a month to respond and barely had anything on the syllabus and did not want us to write a paper or post anything on the discussion board. We just had to read and take tests.
My goal was to pass those courses. Some students may prefer a class like this, but I need interaction and deadlines to help motivate me. On page 264 it states how I felt about studying for the first test..."Goals, like incentives, are affected by their distance in the future." I did well on the tests, but being that we had almost 2 months to read the required chapters for the first test and no other required work or communication in between, my "goal motivational strength" was very low. The week of the test I got an instant drive of motivation :)


Another thought that came to mind after reading about aspirations, goals, and level of motivation was this:




I know this is silly, but it is what came to mind. It seemed as if it was the Coyote's ultimate lifetime goal to catch that Road Runner. He went through extreme measures as Michelle Kwan. Of course Michelle's aspirations were real and she achieved her goal, but its still fun to imagine all the desperate measures the Coyote went through.
I wonder how far or long one will actually keep going if they just can not reach their goal. I like the quote by W.C. Fields, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try, again. Then quit. There's no use being a damn fool about it."(pg 284)

4 comments:

  1. I always loved the coyote. His motivation to achieve his goal was aspiring and also quite comical. Through his numerous attempts at disintinquishing the roadrunner, the coyote showed determination and spunk. It would be nice if everyone had a little bit of the same drive that he has.

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  2. This is so true! I have taken a slew of online classes and have had mostly positive experiences with each of them. This past Spring semester was the exception to that though. I had an online class where all we had was a midterm and a final exam. The midterm was on chapters 1-6 and the final was on chapters 6-19!! It was ridiculous and unfair. Not until the last week of classes did we find out that our final grade would be the better of the two grades, not an average of the two, which is infuriating. I also need the motivation of assignments due to stress me out and force me to do them. I find that I do best in classes that require more of me because I know i have to step up to do it. This past Spring semester I had taken 20 credits in order to graduate, and I've always taken 12 credits a semester because of work. I did better this semester as far as grades go than I have the rest of my college career. Whether it was the pressure of all of the classes or my glorified moment at commencement not far from me that pushed me, but there was definitely some force giving me the strength to do it!

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  3. Mandie we took the same Spring online class!! I did not enjoy that class at all and felt extremely unmotivated. I felt almost like someone had to actually push me to read all those chapters for the 2 tests. And when the professor told us that he was going to use the best grade out of the ONLY 2 tests that made me even more unmotivated to do well on the last test because I did well on the first test! And the best part is I could not sell that book back!

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  4. This is a great example of goal motivation. Basically everyone's motivation for taking an online class, or any class for that matter, is to pass and have that eventually lead to a degree. There are instances just like you mentioned about how goals can change because of their distance into the future. I've taken online classes where the professor will post every assignment at once so that students can do them at their leisure. I actually wish more professors would do this. Some students prefer to have assignments given out each week with a due date because they can manage their time better. If something is due too far into the future, the student may not feel a sense of goal motivation.

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