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Establishing Why — Relevance & Motivation
A Resource Guide for New Faculty
This guide is designed for faculty who are content experts developing their teaching practice. Resources are organized around three high-impact areas: building community and belonging, helping students understand why content matters, and closing class effectively. Each resource has been selected for its practicality and research grounding.
How to use this guide
- Quick wins (name tents, housekeeping slide, muddiest point, bridge statement) can be implemented in the next class session.
- Early semester moves (syllabus quiz, Brightspace announcements, WIFM hooks) are best set up before or at the start of a term.
- Deeper investments (recommended books, TILT framework, relevance maps) reward a weekend of reading and modest course redesign.
- Two books worth reading first: Small Teaching by James Lang and Why Don’t Students Like School? by Daniel Willingham. Both are accessible and evidence-based.
Section 4: Establishing Why — Relevance & Motivation
Content experts often underestimate how much students — especially those in required courses outside their major — need to understand why the material matters. Answering this question proactively is one of the highest-leverage things an instructor can do.
4.1 Why It Matters (The Research)
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Why Don’t Students Like School?Daniel Willingham’s accessible classic in cognitive science. Chapters 1 (on curiosity) and 3 (on prior knowledge) are especially useful. Resource link: Why Don’t Students Like School? Video link: The Art of Teaching Podcast: Dr Daniel T. Willingham: Why Don’t Students Like School? |
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Relevance and student motivationA randomized study found that students given a more personally relevant version of an assignment showed greater autonomous motivation, higher vitality, and more effort than students given a generic version of the same task — providing experimental evidence for why relevance-focused teaching strategies work. Resource link: "Why is this relevant for me?" - Frontiers in Psychology |
4.2 Making It Personal
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Utility value writing interventionsStudents who write brief reflections (1-2 paragraphs) connecting course material to their own lives tend to earn higher grades and stick with the course. A simple weekly prompt in Brightspace Discussions or Assignments can put this finding into practice. Resource link: Utility Value Research Video link: Creating Assignments and Discussions in Brightspace |
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WIFM hook — first 5 minutes“What’s in it for me?” framing opens each class or unit with a real-world problem, career scenario, or provocative question that the day’s content answers. Faculty who do this consistently report higher engagement and fewer “when will we use this?” questions. Resource link: Ways to Help Educators Bring the Real World into the Classroom |
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Major-specific relevance mapsFor multi-major/ general education courses: a one-page visual or table showing how course content connects to each major’s career path. Post it in Brightspace in week one. Example link: Experiential Major Map Infographic |
4.3 Building It Into Design
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Transparency in Learning & Teaching (TILT)The TILT framework asks faculty to explicitly state the purpose, task, and criteria for every assignment. Research across diverse institutions shows it increases academic confidence, sense of belonging, and grades, especially for first-generation students. Resource link: TILT Higher Ed Examples and Resources |
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Backward design (Wiggins & McTighe)Rather than starting with content or activities, backward design has instructors first identify what students should know and be able to do by the end of the course, then design assessments, and only then plan instruction. This produces stronger alignment between what's taught, what's assessed, and why it matters and naturally surfaces the "why" for students. Resource link: UCF Faculty Center: Backward Design Video link: What is Understanding by Design? Author Jay McTighe explains. |
