Motivation is a key driver of meaningful learning, influencing how students engage, persist, and apply new knowledge and skills. In health professions education - and more broadly across higher education - learners often encounter competing pressures such as grades, performance evaluation, and time constraints that can unintentionally shift attention away from effective learning processes. This session introduces an evidence-informed approach to designing learning environments that better support engagement, skill acquisition, and long-term retention. Grounded in principles from motivation science and attention research, the session translates theory into practical teaching strategies that faculty can apply across classroom and clinical settings. Rather than requiring prior familiarity with specific theoretical frameworks, the session focuses on three accessible, high-impact instructional strategies: 1) supporting learner autonomy, 2) enhancing learners’ confidence and expectations for success, and 3) structuring activities to promote an external focus on meaningful outcomes rather than self-monitoring. Together, these strategies can foster intrinsic motivation, improve performance, and create more effective and engaging learning experiences.
The presenter will share examples of how these strategies have been implemented in both entry-level and post-professional health professions education, including didactic coursework and clinical instruction. Participants will review sample teaching activities, discuss adaptations for their own contexts, and examine preliminary outcomes from pilot implementations, including learner engagement and perception data. This interactive session is designed for faculty, clinical educators, and instructional staff across disciplines who are interested in improving student motivation and learning outcomes. By the end of the session, participants will be able to identify key factors that influence learner motivation and attention in educational settings, apply three evidence-informed strategies to enhance engagement and performance, and adapt these strategies to their own teaching contexts. Participants will leave with concrete, adaptable tools to design more motivating and effective learning environments.
Director of Neurologic Physical Therapy Residency Program, Instructor of Rehabilitation Medicine, Georgetown University
Dr. Rachel Wilcox is the Director of the MedStar Health Neurologic Physical Therapy Residency Program and an Instructor of Rehabilitation Medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center. She is a board-certified clinical specialist in neurologic physical therapy in the outpatient... Read More →
