This document discusses the concept of conation, which refers to the striving or volitional component of learning. It situates conation within models of the tripartite soul and the three faculties of mind. The document reviews the history of conation in psychology and models of conation in self-directed and self-regulated learning. It proposes that conation involves direction, energizing, and persistence. Finally, it discusses how instructors can support students' conation through goal-setting, planning, self-monitoring, and the use of Web 2.0 tools like wikis and blogs.

1. Rediscovering the Concept of Conation
Melody Thompson
Assistant Professor
Adult Education Program
Penn State University
mmt2@psu.edu
Lorna Kearns
Instructional Designer
Center for Instructional
Development and
Distance Education
University of Pittsburgh
lrkearns@pitt.edu

2.  Situate conation within the learning domain
landscape
 Recognize its importance to adult learning
and distance learning
 Discuss how to support and develop conation
among your students
 Introduce some Web 2.0 tools

3.  Plato’s Tripartite Soul (4th century BC)
 Rational soul (mind/intellect)
 Spirited soul (will/volition)
 Appetitive soul (emotion/desire)
 Scottish and German Psychologists (1700s)
 Three faculties of mind:
 Cognition (knowing)
 Affect (valuing; emotion)
 Conation (striving; volition)

4.  1932
“We say we are trying, striving, endeavoring, paying
keen attention, making an effort, working hard, doing
our utmost, exerting ourselves, concentrating all our
energies; in technical terms, we are manifesting
conation.”
--William McDougall
The Energies of Men
 1980
Hilgard calls for a renewed effort to investigate
affective and conative constructs involved in learning.

5.  1987 – Atman proposes a model of conative
goal accomplishment for distance learners
7. Organize
8. Make it happen
9. Don’t procrastinate
10. Finish what you start
11. Evaluate
12. Fit into long-range
purpose
1. Recognize need, problem,
challenge, opportunity
2. Set goal
3. Brainstorm alternatives
4. Assess risks
5. Select strategy
6. Visualize finished project

6. Conation Cognition Affect
•What do I want to
work toward?
Why?
•How do I set and
manage my
learning goals?
•How do I achieve
my goals?
•How do I learn
new information?
•How do I come to
understand?
•How do I create
new knowledge?
•How do I feel
about my
learning?
•How do I feel
about what I
know?
Knowledge EmotionBehavior

7. Motivation Volition
•Need for
achievement
•Fear of failure
•Self-esteem
•Self-efficacy
•Personal interests
and attitudes
•Persistence
•Will to learn
•Mental effort
investment
•Mindfulness in
learning
•Attitudes about
the future
•Work ethic
•Self-regulation of
goal-oriented
behavior
•Awareness of
short-term and
long-term goals
and consequences
Pre-decisional Post-decisional
“I want to learn” “I will learn”

8. Wishes
Wants
Intentions
Actions
Potency
Future Relevance
Current Relevance

9.  Self-directed learning is a process by which
learners take the initiative to:
 Diagnose their learning needs
 Formulate learning goals
 Identify resources for learning
 Choose and implement appropriate learning
strategies
 Evaluate learning outcomes (Knowles, 1975)
 Self-regulated learning encompasses the
processes by which learners achieve learning
goals.

10.  Persistence among adult learners is a
continuing concern.
 It can be affected by:
 Competing demands for time
 Competing demands for resources
 Need to respond to unanticipated events
 Role conflicts
 Lack of integration with learning community
 Institutional focus on younger learners

11.  Although the cognitive and affective perspectives
suggest that a student will “do” something, they
don’t address the energy requirements necessary
for “doing.”
 As Maslow noted, “healthy people are more
integrated…In them the conative, the cognitive, the
affective, and the motor are less separated from
each other…working collaboratively without
conflict to the same ends.”

12. 1. Direction
2. Energizing
3. Persistence
Plan Start Finish

13.  Self-awareness
 Visions of possibilities
 Making choices
 Goal-setting
 Planning

14.  Sense of
achievement
 Pride
 Pleasure
 External rewards
 Resource
investment
 Discomfort of
change
 Fear of failure
Benefits Costs
“In general, the potential for pleasure resulting from
striving and obtaining dreams, desires, and goals must
outweigh the discomfort of change or fear of failure if
action is to be taken.” --Huitt, 1999

15.  Regular monitoring of thoughts, emotions,
and behavior
 Evaluation of strategies and progress
 Appropriate attribution
 Resourcefulness
 Attentional control
 Emotional and motivational control
 Adaptive help-seeking
 Goal protection

16. Direction Energizing Persistence
• Imagine
possibilities
• Make decisions
• Identify goals
• Develop plans
• Overcome inertia
• Develop and
regulate self-
esteem
• Focus attention
• Manage emotions
• Practice self-
renewal
strategies
• Control attention
• Monitor emotions
and behavior
• Evaluate progress
• Reward
completion

17.  What can you do to help students…
 Imagine possibilities?
 Set attainable goals?
 Develop goal achievement plans?
 Implement plans?
 Practice self-observation?
 Reflect on progress?
 Seek help appropriately?
 Manage emotions?

18. Angermeier, Markus. Web 2.0 universe map. Licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Germany. Retrieved May 19, 2010 from http://kosmar.de/wp-content/web20map.png

19. Wikis Blogs

20. 1. Recognize need,
problem, challenge,
opportunity
2. Set goal
3. Brainstorm alternatives
4. Assess risks
5. Select strategy
6. Visualize finished
project
7. Organize
8. Make it happen
9. Don’t procrastinate
10.Finish what you start
11. Evaluate
12.Fit into long-range
purpose

21. Web-based groupware application for:
• Creating, editing and hosting HTML pages
• Version tracking
• Page linking and organization

22. “We thought that networking was a way that
we could share resources with one another …
thereby multiplying our learning process.”
“...it was a way of collaborating even though
not seeing each other.”
“I gained a lot of confidence and also
appreciation of the work by sharing and
learning from my peers on the wiki.”

23. 1. Recognize need,
problem, challenge,
opportunity
2. Set goal
3. Brainstorm alternatives
4. Assess risks
5. Select strategy
6. Visualize finished
project
7. Organize
8. Make it happen
9. Don’t procrastinate
10.Finish what you start
11. Evaluate
12.Fit into long-range
purpose

24.  Web log or journal to which students can
post text, images, and hyperlinks

26. http://www.slideshare.net/lornakearns/sloan-2010-conation-presentation