Creating content-based social interaction

Geoffrey Herman is a teaching associate professor in the Computer Science department at UIUC. His teaching pedagogy is grounded in self-determination theory, a framework that proposes that promoting students’ senses of autonomy, competence, and relatedness will deepen students’ intrinsic motivation to learn. Herman stresses the importance of creating collaborative, social interactions focused on course content. He measures students’ engagement and sense of belonging throughout the semester. Herman supports hybrid online/also relies on Zoom to provide synchronous learning time for online students. He recognizes that maintaining high levels of student motivation can take significant teaching effort, which is important for novice instructors to consider when implementing motivational pedagogies.