Abstract:
Cite this essay: Adeleke, Israel Oluwaseun. Accelerated Learning, Students’ Motivation, and the Foundation Program in AUN: My Experience at Capacity Building. This AUN Believes II: Celebrating 20 Years of Impact as a Development University, edited by DeWayne Frazier, Emilienne Idorenyin Akpan, and Usoh Usoh. Yalim Press Limited: Abuja, 2024.
Description:
My time at AUN’s foundation program, New Foundation School (NFS), revealed students’ motivation as an indispensable cornerstone of any pedagogical process, especially an accelerated learning program. The journey commenced in September 2016 and unfolded daily with new layers of experiences. My role demanded a new form of pedagogy, a method that required teaching the essentials within the shortest period, an approach that mandated distilling the teaching content to equip students with the requisite, intellectual capacity to excel in AUN’s liberal arts education. Accelerated learning was an experimental vehicle that served the purpose. In this piece, using NFS students as a case study, I contend that students’ motivation is essential in achieving the goals of accelerated learning. Students’ motivation is both intrinsic and extrinsic. However, I examine students’ motivation more specifically as intrinsic which entails their desire and zeal to acquire knowledge in any circumstances to further their educational goals. This intrinsic motivation complements the extrinsic factors that poor students’ motivation may undermine. Students’ motivation at NFS made some hop into the academic vehicle zealously and move to the front seats, while others observed from behind. I should emphasize, at this juncture, that despite my pedagogical roles, these obligations cannot be divorced from the teamwork at NFS.
