Online Student Engagement

The key to student motivation has to do with internal drive and individual interests. Whether educators, entrepreneurs, or motivational speakers, we must ask ourselves: How can I help each of my students to feel more connected to themselves as learners, as well as more personally invested in the world they live in, as a result of deep engagement with the subject matter at hand? Many of the factors that hold true in effective traditional education formats also apply to online learning formats. For example, a low student-to-teacher ratio is necessary for probable student success, regardless of the format – in-person or online. However, there are a few specific techniques online instructors can adopt that will maximize the motivation, learning, and subsequent retention of adult students. To motivate students online, provide opportunities for students to personally connect to the subject matter; have students set their own goals; set up a system for self-monitoring and progress-tracking; encourage students to collaborate with you on the syllabus or course reading material; and act as the facilitator, rather than transmitter, of information.

We often talk about the importance of learner motivation in eLearning. In fact, we’ve even said that motivation is often more important than the specific content when seeking to maximize the impact of instruction – particularly in eLearning, where relatively few social or external environmental factors are likely to inspire learners.

This has a great deal of surface value, in that motivation is actually a factor in all of human activity. For example, it’s been over 95 degrees here every day for the last week, and my motivation to work outside has plummeted. Of course, lacking motivation affects my level of effort. If willing effort is the only result of creating motivation, then saying that “designing for learner motivation in eLearning is important” is not really that significant. Of course it’s true, but it is so general a statement that this insight gains us very little in trying to really improve instruction. But actually, our focus on motivation has very specific importance in instruction.