Course Enrichment and the Job Characteristics Model

Abstract

This article describes how the job characteristics model, used by industrial-organizational psychologists to enhance the motivating potential of jobs in industry, can be applied to enhance the motivating potential of psychology courses. The job characteristics model describes the relation among the core job characteristics of skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, feedback, and employee intrinsic job motivation. Empirical support for the job characteristics model has been established in organizational research. Application of this model to course design provides a framework for enriching course design to increase student motivation. This conceptual framework can be used to strengthen teaching methods, evaluation methods, policies, and other aspects of how a course is structured.