Introductory Level
Please Choose A Webquest
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation
Basic knowledge of motivation and motivational strategies
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation
There are four tasks waiting for you in this WebQuest. Let's look at them.
TASK 1
Your first task will be to explore why motivation is so important to humans and what intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is.
TASK 2
Your second task will be to understand the effect of motivation on task completion and work performance. You will also see how to stay motivated in an activity for a long time. As part of this task, you will also try to help our chess player David.
TASK 3
The third task will be to familiarize yourself with Priority Matrix - the tool you can use to organize your daily tasks.
TASK 4
Your final task will be to investigate various task management software that can help you be more efficient and organize your daily tasks better.
TASK 1
Your first task will be to explore why motivation is so important to humans and what intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is.
Study the following information sources that contain all knowledge you need to fulfil this task.
Source 1 - Video about extrinsic and intrinsic motivation
Source 2 - Article about motivation: How to get started and staying motivated
https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/motivation-how-to-get-started-and-staying-motivated
Source 3 - Article about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/intrinsic-and-extrinsic-motivation
TASK 2
Your second task will be to understand the effect of motivation on task completion and work performance. You will also see how to stay motivated in an activity for a long time. As part of this task, you will also try to help our chess player David.
Source 1: Video about how to stay motivated
Source 2: Article about 7 ways to motivate yourself to work hard when you’re really not in the mood
Source 3: Video about the psychology of self-motivation
Now you know a lot about motivation. You probably already know enough to try to help our chess player David. Suggest at least 4 questions David should ask himself to clarify his situation in his chess career. Looks like he's at an important crossroads. What questions should he answer to make the right decision in this situation?
TASK 3
The third task will be to familiarize yourself with Priority Matrix - the tool you can use to organize your daily tasks.
Priority Matrix is a tool for task and project management that helps to organize tasks based on their importance and urgency. It is a mathematical matrix that arranges tasks into four quadrants based on their priority and urgency:
Quadrant 1: Important and urgent tasks - these tasks need to be done as soon as possible and are a priority.
Quadrant 2: Important but not urgent tasks - these tasks are important but may not need to be done immediately. It is advisable to plan them for the future.
Quadrant 3: Non-important tasks - these tasks are not important nor urgent. We should try to minimize the time we spend on them.
Quadrant 4: Urgent but not important tasks - these tasks are urgent but not very important. We should try to delegate them or minimize their time-consuming.
The Priority Matrix is a useful tool for organizing tasks and helps people better plan their time and increase productivity. It can be used for both personal and professional purposes.
Source 1: Video about how a simple matrix can fix your procrastination issues
Source 2: Article about Priority matrix
https://asana.com/resources/priority-matrix
Source 3: Template of Priority Matrix
https://conceptboard.com/wp-content/uploads/priority-matrix.jpg
Try using the Priority Matrix practically. Make a list of tasks that await you tomorrow. Use the Priority Matrix for these tasks. Use the template mentioned in the link above.
TASK 4
Your final task will be to investigate various task management software that can help you be more efficient and organize your daily tasks better.
Source 1: Article about 20 best (and free) task management software to help you at work
https://www.dragapp.com/blog/free-task-management-software/
Source 2: Video - What's Todoist?
Source 3: Video - What is ClickUp?
Please answer the following questions:
- Which of the task management tools or apps do you use?
- Which of the tools do you like and want to try?
You have successfully completed several tasks in this WebQuest. Try to answer the following questions to see how much you have learned:
- Which knowledge from this WebQuest was just a repetition for you because you already knew it?
- What knowledge was new to you?
- Why should people have the knowledge contained in this WebQuest?
- What would you say if you had to say a few words about motivation?
- What is the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation?
- What task management tools do you know, and which ones do you like?
You have just successfully completed this WebQuest on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. If you have completed all the tasks, you can rightly consider yourself an expert on this topic because you now have much more knowledge about this topic than the average person in your country. You understand the issue of motivation and can discuss this topic with others. You can also advise other people on how to deal with procrastination, workload or management of daily tasks. You understand the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. You know several tools that help people in task management. Furthermore, you have tried how Priority Matrix works practically.
Congratulations, your knowledge of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is excellent now!
Basic knowledge of motivation and motivational strategies
En esta WebQuest trabajarán de a tres.
Task 1: What does motivation mean?
Your first step for becoming an expert on the basic knowledge of motivation and motivational strategies is to find out a little bit about the word “motivation” and how you can boost it at the workplace or classroom.
Task 2: How do you motivate yourself?
Your second step for becoming an expert on the basic knowledge of motivation and motivational strategies is to think about your personal and professional motivation factors and to figure out how others motivate themselves.
Task 3: Tips and Tricks!
Your third step for becoming an expert on the basic knowledge of motivation and motivational strategies will provide you with very helpful, easy-to-use strategies with instant effects. The questions for the interesting article invite you to analyse the content.
Task 4: Reflection.
Your fourth step for becoming an expert on the basic knowledge of motivation and motivational strategies is to identify motivational methods and exercises that will bring you closer to your goals.
Task 5: Motivation Diary:
Your fifth step for becoming an expert on the basic knowledge of motivation and motivational strategies is to try out a motivational diary to keep track of emotional highlights.
Have fun!
Task 1: What does motivation mean?
Your first step in this WebQuest is to find out about the word “motivation”, what it means and how you can boost your personal motivation in private life, but also at the workplace or classroom.
The links found below provide you with some important information about “motivation”, its elements and how it works:
A definition of motivation: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/motivation
The three types of motivation: https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/3-types-motivation-can-inspire-you-do-anything-ncna781826
Six positive mental exercises to motivate you: https://www.canterbury.com/blog/playing-training/6-positive-mental-exercises-to-motivate-you/
Motivation Tools, worksheets and activities: https://positivepsychology.com/motivation-tools-worksheets-activities/
Can you come up with more information on “motivation”?
Task 2: How do you motivate yourself?
Work in groups of two to three people. Before you start the group-work, simply get yourself some pen and paper. Think about some examples in your personal and professional life: who or what motivates you from outside? How do you motivate yourself from inside? Now, interview each other about the examples that you have chosen. Take some notes of who or what motivates your colleagues from outside; how do they motivate themselves? What exactly was new to you, personally?
Task 3: Tips and Tricks!
Another group task, ideally for two to three people. The following link will provide you with some interesting motivational activities which are easy to do and work instantly:
https://www.shinesheets.com/5-motivational-activities-for-when-you-just-want-to-give-up/
After reading the article try to answer the questions below:
- what are motivational activities?
- which of the mentioned activities are most appealing to you (name two)?
- what other motivational activities can you come up with?
- have you ever made a list with things that make you happy?
Task 4: Reflection:
Can you think of one or two of your goals that you would like to accomplish? According to yourself what motivational factors are needed to reach them and to make them become true? Could others support you to increase your motivation? You are invited to talk about these questions in a bigger group/in class/in the plenum, if you wish.
Task 5: Motivation Diary:
Have you ever thought about doing a motivation diary? This would offer you the chance to keep track of all motivational factors and how they have boosted you – no matter, if in your personal or professional life. Of course, this diary can be created, done, and designed in a creative way. Just give it a try!
You have almost completed this WebQuest. Let’s give it a try and answer the following questions to confirm how much additional knowledge and skills you have gained:
- What aspects of motivation were new to you?
- Which things have you already known before?
- Which personal strategies to boost your own motivation can you name?
- What is the difference between “intrinsic” and “extrinsic” motivation?
- What would you personally recommend to others when it comes to the basic knowledge of motivation and motivational strategies?
Very well done! You now know the importance of motivation and motivational factors in personal and professional life. You also know why these are important for reaching one owns goals. Moreover, you know about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and instant methods to boost motivation. Finally, you have gained additional tools, for example the motivation diary, that will help bringing you forward.
Congratulations, your knowledge of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is excellent now!
Advanced Level
Please Choose A Webquest
My Career Goals
Self-control, Persistence
My Career Goals
The topic of this WebQuest is career goals. This WebQuest will help you clarify your career path and set a long-term career goal. You will learn to plan goals, to formulate them correctly, but also to divide a long-term goal into milestones - short-term goals. Anyone who wants to go somewhere must know where they are going. If you want to have a successful career, you should master career planning. This WebQuest will help you with that.
The following 6 tasks await you in this WebQuest.
TASK 1
Your first task in this WebQuest is to clarify your career direction.
TASK 2
Your second task is to set a specific long-term career goal. It should be a goal you want to achieve within 5 to 10 years.
TASK 3
Your next task is to learn how to set short-term goals.
TASK 4
Your next task is to learn how to correctly formulate goals with the SMART method.
TASK 5
Your fifth task is to set short-term goals - milestones that will lead you to achieve your long-term goal.
TASK 6
Your final task is to create a presentation that will include your plan to achieve your career goal.
TASK 1
Your first task in this WebQuest is to clarify your career direction.
You can work in a group of 3 to 5 people. Your first task is to watch the two below videos and then answer the questions below and briefly discuss the answers. The aim of this activity is to clarify your current ideas about the direction of your career. Try to answer the following questions:
- What profession do you want to have in life?
- What field do you want to work in?
- To what extent does this profession match your strengths?
- What do you need to do to get a good job in your desired profession?
- Do you have a plan to achieve your dream profession and dream job?
It's often great to watch a video before the discussion to help get the discussion started. Try watching the following two videos before the discussion.
Source 1 – Video on how to find your passion
Source 2 – Video about choosing the right career path in 7 simple steps
TASK 2
Your second task is to set a specific long-term career goal. It should be a goal you want to achieve within 5 to 10 years.
It is not easy to choose the right long-term goal for such a long period. If you choose the wrong goal, you may find that in a year or two you are no longer attracted to this goal, and you do not have enough motivation to achieve it. So, first study the following educational resources and then formulate your long-term career goal.
Source 1: Animation about long term and short-term planning
Source 2: Article about how to accomplish big things with long-term goals
https://asana.com/resources/long-term-goals
Source 3: Article about how to set long term goals
https://www.lifehack.org/788859/long-term-goals
TASK 3
Your next task is to learn how to set short-term goals.
Now that you are clear about your long-term career goal, you need to learn how to set short-term goals. What tools do you need to achieve your goals, and how can you reach them?
Go through the following learning resources and learn new skills in this area.
Source 1: Video on long term and short-term goals
https://youtu.be/TAWWlUDdTp4
Source 2: Article about short-term professional goals - how to set them
https://www.betterup.com/blog/short-term-professional-goals
Source 3: Article about short-term goals to improve your career today
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/short-term-goals-for-work
TASK 4
Your next task is to learn how to correctly formulate goals with the SMART method.
The SMART method is a concept that helps define and achieve goals. SMART is an acronym for the following criteria that should be met when setting goals:
- Specific: The goal should be clearly defined and specific to the situation or problem.
- Measurable: The goal should be measurable so that progress can be tracked and it can be determined if it has been achieved.
- Achievable: The goal should be realistic and attainable given the available resources and time frame.
- Relevant: The goal should be relevant to the overall objectives of the person, organization or project.
- Time-bound: The goal should be time-bound with a clear deadline for achievement.
- Using the SMART method when setting goals can help increase the success and effectiveness of achieving them, as it helps ensure that goals are clearly defined, attainable, and focused on relevant outcomes.
Source 1: Video about SMART goal setting
Source 2: Article on how to write SMART goals
https://www.atlassian.com/blog/productivity/how-to-write-smart-goals
Source 3: Video containing SMART goals examples
You may have discovered that your long-term goal doesn't meet all of the SMART criteria. So try to improve the wording of your long-term career goal to match the SMART method.
TASK 5
Your next task is to set short-term goals - milestones that will lead you to achieve your long-term goal.
In task number 2, you set your long-term career goal. Now your task is to formulate several short-term goals that will be your milestones on the way to achieving your long-term goal. Don't forget that short-term goals must also follow the SMART method.
Setting milestones is important for achieving a goal for several reasons:
- Measuring progress: Setting milestones helps measure progress towards the goal. Milestones provide an opportunity for regular assessment and evaluation of progress, which allows for adjustments and modifications to the plan if issues or deficiencies arise.
- Maintaining motivation: Achieving goals can often be a long and challenging process. Setting milestones allows individuals or teams to break the path to achieving the goal into smaller segments, which can help maintain motivation and focus on achieving the goal.
- Accountability and transparency: Setting milestones can also help ensure accountability and transparency. Setting milestones provides specific and measurable goals that can be used to monitor and evaluate the performance of individuals or teams and ensures that they are accountable for their share in achieving the goal.
Therefore, setting milestones is a useful tool for planning and achieving goals. It helps maintain motivation and focus, provides measurable indicators of progress, and allows for accountability and transparency throughout the process.
Source 1: Video - A Guide to goal setting
Source 2: Article on how to set milestones to progress towards your goal
https://www.lifehack.org/877500/define-milestone
TASK 6
Your final task is to create a presentation that will include your plan to achieve your career goal.
Create a presentation that will include your long-term goal and also short-term goals - milestones on the way to this goal. Do not forget to use images that represent individual milestones and help you visualize your long-term and short-term goals. Present the resulting presentation to someone, either your friends or someone in your family.
A presentation is a form of visualization. Visualization can be a very useful tool for achieving a long-term goal. Visualization can help maintain motivation by allowing you to see what the outcome will look like when a goal is achieved. Visualization can also help remind us of the reasons why we set a goal and what led us to that decision.
Source 1: Video on how to use visualization to achieve your dreams
Source 2: Article about the importance of visualizing your goals
https://unfinishedsuccess.com/the-importance-of-visualizing-your-goals/
You have successfully completed several tasks in this WebQuest. Try to answer the following questions to see how much you have learned:
- Which knowledge from this WebQuest was just a repetition for you because you already knew it?
- What knowledge was new to you?
- Why should people have the knowledge contained in this WebQuest?
- What is the difference between long-term and short-term goals?
- What is your long-term career goal and why did you choose it?
- How would you briefly describe the SMART method?
- Why do many people use visualization as a method to help them achieve their goals?
You have just successfully completed this WebQuest on career goals and planning. If you have completed all the tasks, you can rightly consider yourself an expert on this topic because you now have much more knowledge about this topic than the average person in your country. You already know why career planning is important. You can set a long-term goal as well as short-term goals - milestones on the way to the long-term goal. You have learned to use the SMART method, which helps to formulate goals in a correct and comprehensive way. As part of WebQuest, you also created a presentation that shows your career plan and helps visualize your career goals. Congratulations, your knowledge of career goals planning is excellent now!
Self-control, Persistence
What is a WebQuest? By conducting research activities on the internet and combining these with additional activities, you will become familiar with new things concerning a specific topic. This allows you to expand your knowledge and create new skills for you.
In the introductory WebQuest you learnt about the importance of motivation and motivational factors in your personal and professional life. You also learnt that they are important for reaching your goals. Furthermore, you learnt about the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and gained tools and methods to boost motivation.
In this advanced WebQuest you will learn how to evaluate your current standard of work and how to develop a personal development plan for improving your performance. Moreover, you will learn how to complete a distraction/risk analysis for the work environment and how to set SMART and SAFE goals for your 5/10 years career plan.
Ready?
Durante los últimos años, has trabajado en una oficina con algunos de tus amigos. Recientemente has decidido que te gustaría llegar más lejos en tu carrera, pero no sabes cómo. Para llegar a donde quieres estar, has decidido establecer algunas metas que te ayudarán a conseguir lo que deseas de tu carrera.
En esta WebQuest trabajarán de a tres.
Task 1:
Your first step for becoming an expert on self-control and persistence is to evaluate your current standard of work and engage peers in providing feedback on performance.
Task 2:
Your second step for becoming an expert on task performance is to learn more about SMART and SAFE goals.
Task 3:
Your third step for becoming an expert on self-control and persistence is to plan activities to engage your team member in discussion and set goals for improving your performance.
Task 4:
Your fourth step for becoming an expert on task performance is to learn more about tasks and games that will help with concentration.
Task 5:
Your fifth step for becoming an expert on self-control and persistence is to develop a personal development plan and career plan for 5/10 years.
Task 6:
Your sixth and last step for becoming an expert on task performance is to complete a distraction/risk analysis for the work environment.
Have fun!
Task 1:
Your first step for becoming an expert on self-control and persistence is to evaluate your current standard of work and engage peers in providing feedback on performance.
Before evaluating your current standard of work, you need to gain the basic knowledge of performance standards. Read through the articles:
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/performance-standards
The second step before evaluating your current standard of work is to gain best practices for writing a self-assessment. Read through the article:
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5379-writing-self-assessment.html
Now it is up to you: Evaluate your current standard work and engage peers in providing feedback on performance.
Task 2:
Your second step for becoming an expert on task performance is to learn more about SMART and SAFE goals.
When setting goals, there are two well-known practices: SMART and SAFE goals.
SMART goals
This method might be the most famous method on how to set goals. Watch the video and learn more about SMART goals:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-SvuFIQjK8
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Time
SAFE goals
This method might not be the most famous one, but nevertheless a very powerful one. Read more about SAFE goals in this article:
https://27gen.com/2013/07/28/smart-or-safe-setting-goals-and-the-leadership-brain/
See it
Accept it
Feel it
Express it
Which of the two methods suit you better?
Try the methods on a personal goal.
Which method did your peers chose? Compare.
Task 3:
Your third step for becoming an expert on self-control and persistence is to plan activities to engage your team members in discussion and set goals for improving your performance.
Engage your team members in discussions
It’s not always easy to engage your team members into discussions. In these articles you find some tips and strategies on how to create a productive group discussion.
https://ctl.wustl.edu/resources/discussion-strategies/
https://secondaryenglishcoffeeshop.blogspot.com/2017/11/discussion-activities.html
https://www.signupgenius.com/groups/group-icebreaker-activities-adults.cfm
What strategy suits you most?
Plan a group discussion about goal setting for improving performances.
Set goals for improving your performance
In task 2 you learnt about the SMART and SAFE methods of setting goals. You should now take these methods and your goals and use them for setting goals to improve your work performance.
Here are some tips on how to set goals for improving your performance:
https://www.lifehack.org/864441/performance-goals
Try it out! What is your performance goal and how can you achieve it?
Share and compare with your peers.
Task 4:
Your fourth step for becoming an expert on task performance is to learn more about tasks and games that will help with concentration.
With so many things going on around us it is sometimes really hard to focus and concentrate. Learn more about games and tasks to help you with concentration.
Read through the article and try a tasks and games out:
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/focus-exercises
https://buzzingbubs.com/articles/brain-games-kids-improve-concentration
https://www.mentalup.co/concentration-games
Which task or game helped you most with gaining concentration?
Can you think of more strategies to help with concentration?
What tasks, games or strategies for more concentration did your peers choose?
Compare and discuss.
Task 5:
Your fifth step for becoming an expert on self-control and persistence is to develop a personal development plan and career plan for 5 years.
You might ask yourself “what is a personal development plan and how can it help me?” Good question! Let’s get the answers. Read through the articles.
Personal development plan:
https://www.briantracy.com/blog/personal-success/personal-development-plan/
https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/hub/personal-development-plan-template/
https://cpdonline.co.uk/knowledge-base/business/what-are-personal-development-plans/
As you now know what a PDP is, it is time for you to create your very own. The following questions should help you to get started:
What are your goals?
When do you want to achieve them?
Which skills and knowledge do you need to have to achieve your goal?
How can you gain these skills and knowledge?
Who is your support network?
Have you ever heard the question “where do see yourself in five years?”. It is a famous interview question but also often asked by your manager during your yearly performance review.
5-year career plan:
https://www.getsmarter.com/blog/career-advice/define-your-5-year-career-plan/
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/5-year-plan-template
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/how-to-make-a-5-year-plan
Now it is up to you again! Create your very own 5-year career plan.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
What would you like to have achieved by then?
Who do you want to be?
What do you want your peers say to you in 5 years from now?
Task 6:
Your sixth and last step for becoming an expert on task performance is to complete a distraction/risk analysis for the work environment.
Before you start your analysis, learn more about distractions at work and the risks behind it. Read the articles and compare to your own work environment.
Distractions at work:
https://clockify.me/blog/productivity/workplace-distractions/
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/8098-distractions-kiling-productivity.html
Risks of distraction:
https://www.taproot.com/why-is-being-distracted-rushed-risk/
Analyse your own work environment now:
What is distracting you?
What is keeping you from focusing and doing your work?
How can you change to be more focusing?
Group together with your peers and talk about distractions and how to avoid them.
You’ve done it! Well done.
You have almost completed this WebQuest. Let’s give it a try and answer the following questions to confirm how much additional knowledge you have gained:
- What are SMART and SAFE goals?
- How can you evaluate your current standard of work?
- What distracts from work and how can you prevent it?
- How do you develop a personal development plan and what is a PDP?
- How can you engage others to discuss?
- How to create a 5-year plan?
Very well done! You now know what a personal development plan is, how to create one and how to set your goals SMART and SAFE. Furthermore, you now know how to engage others into discussions and how to evaluate your current standard of work. Finally you came up with a 5-years plan and learnt what distracts you and how to prevent these distractions. Now you can call yourself a true expert on task performance.
The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. Project Number : 2019-1-PL01-KA204-065089
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