The Influence of Artist in Schools (AiS) Program and the ARCS Motivational Model on Students’ Creativity and Motivation in Visual Art

The word  ̳education‘ comes from the Greek word  ̳educare‘ which means carrying out the potentials stored in the children's psyche to be guided in order for them to grow. It involves the dissemination of information or knowledge to, and acceptance by, a student which results in the receiver‘s behavioral changes. The ―Artist in Schools‖ (AiS) program was initiated by the researchers and became the platform for the collaboration between schools and artists aimed at increasing the students‘ motivation in arts education. It encompasses the sharing of knowledge and experiences between the two groups. This paper is aimed at analyzing the students‘ creativity and motivation in visual art by using the ARCS Motivational Model. Using the multi-case studies, nine secondary schools from Peninsular Malaysia were selected as the sample of the study. In-depth interviews, observation and analysis of related documents were applied. The data were presented narratively. The result revealed that AiS was significantly functional and instrumental in enhancing and encouraging the level of creativity and motivation of the students in visual arts. This study may give great impact to the students‘ development specifically in the learning of visual arts. Keywords—Artist in Schools; Collaboration; Motivation; School Students; Visual Arts Education


Background
In general, the achievement of formal education in Malaysian schools is impressively as stated by Ministry of Education Malaysia. However, like many other Southeast Asian countries, there are several challenges and issues that need proper attention in order to compete with the socio-economy globalization [1]. Visual art education in schools seems to be neglected or receives inadequate recognition from the school management [2]. This trend can affect the teaching and learning process, the students' creativity and thus the performance of the Malaysian education.
The creative culture and innovation in teaching and learning in schools are still lagging in the Malaysian education system although it is one of most effective approaches to increase imagination skills and creativity to the optimum [3]. The 21stcentury learning process should focus more on the collaborative learning environment, high order thinking and life practicality. However, that ‗formula' is still not being applied in the teaching of Visual Art Education or PSV in Malaysia.
Motivational enhancement in the formal art education through artist-school collaboration is a new phenomenon in Malaysia. However, in some other countries, especially in the developed ones, it is an increasingly critical element in the teaching system and school curriculum [4].

The artists in schools (AiS) program
This study aims to explore the creativity and motivation of Malaysian secondary school students in the process of learning visual arts subjects through collaboration between school -artists, in the program entitled as "Artists in Schools" (AiS). AiS is a collaborative effort between schools and artists towards the sharing of experiences and knowledge of the artists with secondary school students. The effectiveness of this program is assessed through its impact on the motivation of the target groups (secondary school students) which in turn is an indication of the increased potential of their creativity.

The ARCS motivational model
ARCS theory is based on the synthesis of concepts and motivational features that are constructed from four categories: Attention (A), Relevance (R), Confidence (C), and Satisfaction (S). These four categories are accepted as conditions that need to be created or produced in a learning process towards ensuring the existence of the target group motivation in the learning process.

Literature Review
"Art" is a term that has not yet received a universal definition. It may not be defined [7]. Artworks are merged with a "family" equation network, and not by an essential definition [8]. Art is an imitation or presentation [9] while, it as a transference of feeling, [10] and an intuitive expression [11]. In the Universal Theory, art exists in every aspect of human life construction because it is rooted in human needs as well as in relation to the inherent value of belief in his soul [12].
The students' tendency towards visual art education and its work processes will increase if the method used is interesting, relevant, and scientifically valuable [13]. The process of effective motivation enhancement not only helps teachers to assists the students in appropriate methods of learning but also has the potential to produce a creative human capital. Understanding the concepts, and skills in art compositions will get better through experience, training, and methods with relevant innovation [14].

Student disclosure to the outside world towards motivation improvement
Motivation is the process that initiates, drives, and maintains goal-oriented behavior [15]. Motivation is what makes you act, whether to take a glass of water to reduce thirst or read a book to acquire knowledge. Over the last 40 years, awareness of the benefits of exposure among students to the environment beyond the school in driving the potential of students have been emphasized through educational psychology. Students will become active when they can connect the new knowledge they learn to the real world [16] [17]. Through this process, students are provided with good composing skills with the help of teachers and experienced artists in the real world and referred to as the source of expertise. This is not surprising: the real world outside the school is a phenomenon that is packed with a variety of views, forms, social patterns, and possibilities.

Collaboration and motivation
Collaboration as direct communication between the two groups who agree to make the decision to achieve the same goals [18]. It is described collaborative from the term of role, relationships, values and ways of working as creative collaboration complemented each other [19]. Collaboration not only means working together but working together to achieve common goals that individuals or organizations alone cannot achieve [20]. Artist collaboration practice can contribute to enhancing creativity and self-expression [22]. These changes begin with the increased motivation of the field. Artists who work together with the community do not just share knowledge and experience about art with others, but also stimulate and motivate the artistic process of community members who may be less exposed to art [23]. Through this collaboration, an artist will encourage and challenge the audience to explore new ways of thinking, feeling, and doing something. It also, indirectly, can enhance the ability to communicate and communicate.

Methodology / materials
This study meets the qualitative research. It focuses on deeply understanding the collaborative impacts between a professional artist and the students in applying art experiences, skills and techniques in art, to explore the level of creativity and motivation of high school students in Visual Art Education or PSV through AiS program. In terms of data collection and theory generation, qualitative research uses many face-toface interaction methods with research subjects and inductive approaches to generate a theory, in addition to using small samples, citing data in focus and depth as well as making narrative narratives and interpretations.
Nine secondary schools were selected based on the six zones in Peninsular Malaysia namely upper north (Kedah), lower north (Perak), upper east coastal (Kelantan and Pahang), central (Kuala Lumpur), and the west (Melaka) ( Table 1). Their selection was made through the list of schools which registered at the AiS program website at http://www.artistsinschoolsmalaysia.com developed by the researcher. The triangulation method of in-depth interviews, observations, and the analysis of the relevant documents were adopted to produce the relevant data to the study. Indepth interviews with one students' representing each school were held and researchers acted as facilitators to ensure students understand the content of the questions raised (Table 2). These in-depth interviews are aimed at understanding the students' perceptions of the AiS program in depth.

Result and findings
Responses: This subsection highlights selected responses from the students to illustrate their views on the program. The responses are categorized into the four ARCS components to illustrate the presence of each component in the responses. Attention  -The artist is a very relaxed and simple person. His delivery was clear and easily understood.‖  -So exciting! Because I had never seen an artist in real life before this.‖  -This is what I want!‖  -I obtained knowledge which I don't get from the teachers at school.‖ Relevance  -I learned on how to make creative and attractive posters.‖  -This is what I want after all this time. This collaboration is advantageous to me.‖  -I gained a lot of things from this program even though it seemed very brief. I also understand the importance of creativity stressed by the artist and I learned a lot while interacting with the artist and there are a lot things I gain from this program.‖  -I want this program to be continued so that the students will understand other techniques in drawing and painting.‖  -In this program, we received a lot of exposure on visual arts, and know how to draw and paint.‖

Confidence
 -His delivery made it easy for me to understand the subject.‖  -I believe I can think creatively using the basic materials given to me.‖  -The artist taught me to be brave in exploiting the colors‖.  -The artist encouraged freedom in drawing especially in the usage of materials, for example, in minimizing the use of pencils. I am exposed to new opportunities and can improve my creativity potential in arts.‖ Satisfaction  -Exciting! Because I learned new things and had an interesting experience.‖  -This program is satisfying because we can meet up with an artist who is very famous and we learned new skills in drawing.‖  -In this program, a lot of people can help us to improve ourselves in arts. Apart from that, we can enhance our potentials in arts.‖  -This program should be continued. Maybe the school doesn't see arts education as important. The fact is, it is very important in building students' personalities and spiritual aspects compared to science and mathematics.‖  -It should be continued because it has a lot of benefits to the PSV students.‖ Observation: Table 3 shows the observations made on each informant. Notes were made on the most visible behaviors or acts of the informant which can be translated into the four ARCS components. Only the positive behaviors are indicated since they reflect the presence of the four components.