Teachers Motivating Themselves by Motivating Students: A Cryptocurrency Appears

Abstract

The attitude of teachers has a powerful influence on whether or not they will adopt a new technology. How much that technology helps the teacher do their job is a key determinant of their attitude. Exploratory research was done to discover the preferences of university lecturers for a novel cryptocurrency token (NCCT) which focuses on education and is intended to increase student motivation. Working in both public and private universities in Vietnam, responding teachers participated in unstructured interviews, then in structured interviews with open responses, and finally in structured interviews with closed response options. Responses show that 57% of university lecturers in Vietnam are either interested or very interested in being able to utilize this NCCT to motivate their students to change behavior. The top behaviors that educators wish to change include doing homework, preparing before class, and asking and answering questions during class time. This focus on in-class behavior could be intended to improve the sense of agency felt by students. In a previous study, students reported they would change their behavior in order to receive these NCCTs so there is reason to believe the teachers’ efforts would be successful if they had access to an NCCT like the one described herein.