The Arcs Model of Motivational Design

Abstract

Typically, even though they have years of experience as students and can potentially list motivating versus demotivating events, people feel that they do not have a reasoned, systematic approach to dealing with the motivational aspects of instructional design and teaching. Some people have a great deal of talent and are highly successful based on their experience and, perhaps, charisma, but they might be more limited in their repertoire than they wish they were. The specific aim of the ARCS motivation model is to provide guidance for creating answers to these questions. This chapter provides an introduction to the ARCS model and serves as a foundation for the remaining chapters which are, for the most part, elaborations of the points made in this chapter. The first part of this chapter contains a description of the motivational variables and sample strategies that comprise the four categories of the ARCS model, the second part covers the systematic design process, and the final part discusses the relationship between motivational design and instructional design.