Making Research on Motivation Accessible and Meaningful to Practitioners

As part of the Professional Development (PD) Webinar Series, the PD Committee at the Office of Education Research (OER) organised a panel discussion on “Making Research on Motivation Accessible and Meaningful to Practitioners” on 21 November 2020. Panellists sought to answer the question “How can we make research on motivation meaningful and accessible to practitioners?”

Mr Tan Cher Chong, Master Teacher (Educational Support) at the Academy of Singapore Teachers, started the session by asking “What Works? How to Measure/Assess Student Motivation?” Following that, Prof John Wang, Professor in the Physical Education and Sports Science Academic Group and Leader of the Motivation in Educational Research Laboratory (MERL) at NIE,  introduced MERL and discussed the lessons learnt from the research undertaken at MERL.

The next speaker, OER Research Scientist Dr Betsy Ng, spoke on Self-Determination Theory and Motivation-Related Strategies. Lastly, Prof Johnmarshall Reeve, Professor of Positive Psychology at the Institute for Positive Psychology and Education, Australian Catholic University, wrapped the presentations up with his presentation on “Helping Teachers Upgrade the Quality of their Classroom Motivating Style”.

The session concluded with an insightful question and answer segment, moderated by OER Senior Research Scientist Dr Phillip Towndrow, and OER Research Scientist Dr Pierina Cheung, .The session was well-attended by approximately 160 education researchers, practitioners, and scholars from all over the world.

Panel Speakers and Moderators (from left to right):
Top Row: Prof Johnmarshall Reeve, Dr Phillip Towndrow, Prof John Wang
Bottom Row: Dr Pierina Cheung, Dr Betsy Ng, Mr Tan Cher Chong