Nurturing gerontology students’ intrinsic motivation to cocreate: the design of a powerful learning environment.

Professionals such as gerontologists play an important role in the
design, development and implementation of age-friendly services.
and products, by using working methods and principles of co-creation.
A Dutch undergraduate applied gerontology programme aims to
train students in the why, how and what of co-creation. The degree
to which students are intrinsically motivated to develop competencies
depends on how their psychological needs are met. These
needs are autonomy, an awareness of competence and a sense of
relatedness, as described in the self-determination theory. To nurture
the intrinsic motivation of the applied gerontology students, a
realistic, powerful learning environment called the Living Lab
Applied Gerontology was designed and implemented. The aim of
this paper is to present the design of this powerful learning environment
and to discuss its value for nurturing the students’ intrinsic
motivation for co-creation. Based on a focus group with eight
students, we identify directions for further research and development
of living labs.