REWARD SYSTEM: IT’S EFFECTIVENESS IN INCREASING STUDENT’S PARTICIPATION AND MOTIVATION ON A ONLINE ACTIVITIES OF GRADE 8 ST. MARCELLIN
Phoebe L. Serafino Blessie D. Legaria Angel Faye Legara Kyr Olasiman
REWARD SYSTEM: IT’S EFFECTIVENESS IN INCREASING STUDENT’S PARTICIPATION AND MOTIVATION ON A ONLINE ACTIVITIES OF GRADE 8 ST. MARCELLIN
An Action Research Proposal
Presented to
The Faculty of the Teacher Education Program
Notre Dame of Kidapawan College
Phoebe L. Serafino
Blessie D. Legaria
Angel Faye Legara Kyr Olasiman
TABLE
CONTEXT AND RATIONALE
One of the most serious difficulties in online education is poor learner participation (Oh, Rice and Song, 2019). Due to a variety of distractions and other reasons, instructors have struggled to convince students to participate in their online school work since the beginning of flexible learning. Today, encouraging student participation in online activities is viewed as a challenge that requires a practical and effective solution.
In this setting, effective teaching and learning necessitates responsible, motivated students who seek to learn rather than simply pass exams (Zacharis, 2009). Engaging students to participate in online activities has been difficult based on our teaching experience because the students are demotivated in making a video performance that was done in the respective homes of the students. Even though we planned and created interactive activities during our final demo, it was observed that, that was not enough.
Furthermore, we observed how de-motivated the learners were, as well as the low quality of their work. In addition, some were hesitant in complying the online activities because they are lacking of materials that needed. We
also recognized that if we did not emphasize the importance of the activity, they would just put out a minimal effort to comply.
As facilitators of learning, we realized that there is indeed a problem when it comes to boosting online activities participation and motivation among students in passing their works through online platforms. Due to this pandemic, we cannot practice the advantage that the traditional learning has that is why we came up with a plan to combat this problem through reward system. With this, we hope to achieve an effective teaching and learning process in this type of learning and we hope to increase our student’s motivation and participation in online activities with the help of reward system.
Action Research Questions
This action research aims to determine if the Reward System can help the to increase student participation and motivation of Grade 8-St. Marcellin of Notre Dame of Kidapawan College (IBED) Kidapawan City on a online activities.
Specifically, it sought to find answers for the following questions:
1. How does the reward system increase students’ participation and motivation?
2. How effective does reward system in increasing students’ participation and motivation?
Innovation, Intervention and Strategy
Positive reinforcement such as establishing and employing a reward system inside the classroom has been a common practice to gain and increase the level of motivation and participation of the students. When rewards are given, most often students are motivated to learn and participate during learning activities. Students have been rewarded for good behavior for a long time, even before Skinner’s theory of operant conditioning was developed. New York City launched a token economy in the 1800s as a way to encourage good schoolwork and punish bad school behavior (Condry, 1977) More so, the theory of operant conditioning, on the other hand, was responsible for the extensive use of rewards in the classroom. In its most basic form, operant conditioning states that if a reinforcement is given after a specific behavior, that behavior will be strengthened.
To prepare for the intervention needed in this research, we conducted an online class through google meet and observe the individual behavior of the students before the reward system was introduced. Through our keen observation and awareness of the level of motivation of the students, we were able to identify the difference of unmotivated and less participative students without the implementation of reward system. We were able to determine what type of reinforcement we will implement in order to increase their participation and motivation during discussion and activities. Though not all of our students
have this kind of problem inside the classroom, yet we are still responsible to take action and give attention to those who really need this intervention.
In establishing and employing reward system inside the classroom, different level of rewards is also considered in its different level of influence to the motivation of the students. A reward is anything that increases the likelihood of the behavior occurring again stickers, praise, prizes, and grades are commonly used as reinforcement/reward in education. For the level of the influence these rewards that may give to our students, we will use prizes and grades. Employing a rewards system such as prizes and grades will be used as an intervention for us to analyze and see its effect on the motivation and participation of the students in class.
In addition, other academics have pointed out that schools have successfully used rewards systems for decades (Slavin 1997) and rewards are a crucial, successful, and fundamental aspect of education (Akin-Little, Eckert, Lovett, & Little, 2004; Reiss, 2005). These experts feel that rewards can serve as stepping stones or a foundation for students to develop their intrinsic motivation (Cameron & Pierce, 1994; Horner & Spauling, 2009). Employing a reward system with a particular age group, when it comes to their perceptions of tangible incentives/rewards influencing their motivation to learn in a specific subject matter, students are fairly equally matched.
Employing this intervention in our class may show us the effects of rewards system in the motivation and participation of the students when
incentives/rewards is presented. Aside from that, we also aim in not only giving an extrinsic motivation among students, but also being intrinsically motivated by the influence of these rewards as well. This can be done by giving students a reward that encourages them to behave in a pleasant and proper manner in the classroom which later on will result in a more intrinsic participation during class discussion.
Data Sources/Research Participants
Participants and other sources of data and information. The participants of the study will be the Grade 8 St. Marcellin of Notre Dame of Kidapawan College (IBED) Kidapawan City. The data will be generated through a class observation before and after employing the intervention. Moreover, survey will also be conducted to know the students’ view towards Reward System.
Data Gathering Procedure
Observation notes and interview guide questions encoded in a survey questionnaire will be utilized to collect data in order to answer the questions posed in this research study. These instruments will be used to collect information from the participants. Because of the current pandemic, the researchers made certain that the data will be collected while adhering to health regulations. The interview took place over the internet.
Data Analysis Plan
Thematic analysis will be used to examine the information received from the interviews and surveys. In the presentation of the study’s finding, important responses that answered the questions about participants’ perceptions of the rewards system will be given equal weight.
Result and Discussion
This is consisting of report of the researchers’ findings and analysis of the data that had been collected during the procedure of the action research. The students of Notre Daame of Kidapawan College- IBED especially class grade 8- St. Marcelline face the problem when it comes to boosting online activities participation and motivation among students in passing their works through online platforms. The problem had been investigated with the use of qualitative data particularly in interviewing some students coming from their section.
There are three questions that had been gathered in this study to identified the problem when it comes to boosting online activities participation and motivation among students. To come up this problem, the researchers / pre-service teachers asked 10 students from the grade 8- St. Marcellin to know their opinion and idea regarding of this topic.
The first question is that, “how does the reward system increases students’ participation and motivation? Where most of these are answers was
they value more the reward than their learnings. This resulted in students who, over time, developed a mentality that they would do the minimum necessary to get the reward or avoid the punishments. The second question is that, “how effective does reward system in increasing students’ participation and motivation? Based on the answers of the students, the researchers / preservice teacher concludes that giving incentives or rewards for students motivate them to be more productive because they create a feeling of pride and achievements.
Reflection
Action research is an essential element of teaching. Teachers are constantly considering ways to enhance their teachings and the ways in which certain factors affect student progress. Teachers can use action research to transform routine data gathering tools for improving their classrooms. We, the researcher came up with the title, “Reward system: it’s effectiveness in increasing student’s participation and motivation on a online activities of Grade 8 St. Marcellin.” By this action research we will know what will reward system will do to student’s participation during online activities. And the more they strive for the reward, the more they unconsciously form good learning habits. Rewards encourage interest, which promotes productivity and work.
Action research increases the participants' awareness of the reflective process. In contrast to the abstract reflecting process, it is formal, scientific,
timely, and more focused. Through the use of the most effective teaching methods, action research makes sure that the needs of the students are satisfied. It helps a teacher feel more confident, which allows him or her to do their job more successfully.
REFERENCES
Akin-Little, K., Eckert, T., Lovett, B., & Little, S. (2004). Extrinsic reinforcement in the classroom: bribery or best practice. School Psychology Review (33), 344-362.
Baranek, Lori Kay, “The Effect of Rewards and Motivation on Student Achievement” (1996). Masters Theses. 285. http://schoolworks.gvsu.edu/theses/285
Cameron, J., Banko, K., & Pierce, W. (2001). Pervasive negative effects of rewards on intrinsic
Oh, Rice and Song (2019). “Participation in Online Courses and Interaction with a Virtual Agent” http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/3998/4952
Zacharis (2009). “Fostering Students’ Participation on Online Environments: Focus on Interaction, Communication and Problem Solving”. Retrieved
from:https://clutejournals.com/index.php/TLC/article/download/1169/1153/462
7 motivation: the myth continues. The Behavior Analyst(24), 1-44. Slavin, R.E. (1997). Educational psychology (5th ed.). Needham Heights. Allyn & Bacon.