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.
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Course designers should create an array of assignments, activities, and assessments that allow learners to interact and practice with content in multiple ways, on multiple cognitive levels and using multiple measures and methods to assess learning. 5. They Are Accessible. Effective online courses should be accessible to all learners.
As an eLearning designer, you should design courses that connect learners to other participants, for instance in an online learning community. Use the word “we” to give learners the confidence that they are on the same journey as others.
Such course design supports both the individual and group’s learning and promotes applied approaches to learning. e) Digital tools.
Our job as instructors is to encourage active participation in online class discussions, offer choices in terms of research projects and essay assignments, and give lots of constructive feedback.
Encouraging Collaboration with Others In order to keep students motivated, steps must be taken to ensure communication between students. This can be done by encouraging social learning. Online learning platforms can contain discussion boards where students can communicate with each other and share questions and ideas.
Here are some strategies that can be used in the classroom to help motivate students:Promote growth mindset over fixed mindset. ... Develop meaningful and respectful relationships with your students. ... Grow a community of learners in your classroom. ... Establish high expectations and establish clear goals. ... Be inspirational.
How to increase student participation in online discussions#1: Embed online discussion into course design. ... #2: Explain why participation is required. ... #3: Require quality, not quantity. ... #4: Provide feedback to everyone. ... #5: Don't worry about introverts. ... #6: Provide guidelines for constructive conversation.More items...
One way to encourage students and teach them responsibility is to get them involved in the classroom. Make participating fun by giving each student a job to do. Give students the responsibility of tidying up or decorating the classroom. Assign a student to erase the blackboard or pass out materials.
Strategies to Motivate Students in the ClassroomBuild relationships with your students. ... Use examples as often as possible. ... When possible, hand over control to the student. ... Use all types of technology available to you. ... Provide specific praise to students for little things and big things. ... Set up a token or points system.More items...•
So how can teachers spark their students' intrinsic motivation?Know your students. ... Give them ownership of their environment. ... Make sure they have a solid foundation. ... Practice setting goals. ... Give specific feedback. ... Tap into their innate curiosity. ... As much as possible, allow students choice in their work.More items...•
5 things teachers can do to improve online teaching.Utilize a variety of technology options. ... Connect to students individually. ... Prepare to work with parents. ... Consider new learning methods. ... Provide collaboration and socialization opportunities.
How to Make Virtual School FunUse games to make virtual learning fun. ... Track daily progress with marble jars. ... Connect learning to fun activities. ... Volunteer as part of learning. ... Find a special place to display schoolwork. ... Let your child see their progress. ... Implement a reward system.
How You Can Use Technology To Motivate Your StudentsMotivate Students With Videos. ... Use Technology In And Out Of Classroom For Teaching. ... Motivate Students With Independent Research. ... Motivate Students With Different Apps. ... Boost Motivation With Various Technological Devices. ... Use Existing Technological Devices In Classroom.
Motivational strategiesSet clear goals. Include daily, weekly, semester, and long-term goals. ... Help yourself focus. ... Pace yourself. ... Prioritize. ... Location, location, location. ... Get enough sleep. ... Build a routine and healthy habits. ... Eat and drink healthily.
The overall key to success in motivating online students is to build motivation factors and engagement activities in to your course. However, do not lose sight of the main goal of the class, and that is to educate your students. On the other end of the spectrum, research shows that good everyday teaching practices can do more to counter student apathy than special efforts to attack motivation directly (Ericksen, 1978). Simply put, don’t overdo it. You have to work to find the right mix. In the end, each student is different and each class is different. I will leave you with this thought: if you do not know what is working and what is not with your class, if you feel you are losing students, or if you feel that you are not being successful, simply ask them for advice. Trust me, they will talk.
Many think that keeping students interested and motivated is as easy as following a formula. Unfortunately, there is not a magic formula or a crystal ball that will help you motivate your students as each group and each class is different. Many factors affect a given student’s motivation to work and to learn including: interest, perception, desire, self-confidence, self-esteem, patience, and persistence (Bligh, 1971; Sass, 1989).
These students may lack motivation. Blackboard provides some powerful assessment tools for monitoring student progress. These tools can be used to help monitor your students to help motivate them toward the course goals. Some of these tools include discussions, blogs, group projects, assignments, and holding virtual office hours, just to name a few. Each of these has their positives and negatives, and there are literally dozens of ways in which each can be used, but I just wanted to highlight my experience with them.
Blackboard provides some powerful assessment tools for monitoring student progress. These tools can be used to help monitor your students to help motivate them toward the course goals. Some of these tools include discussions, blogs, group projects, assignments, and holding virtual office hours, just to name a few.
Intrinsic motivation comes from a desire to learn something for self-fulfillment, or to master a subject. Extrinsic motivation comes from a desire to succeed for the sake of accomplishing an outcome.
According to Davis ( Tools for Teaching by Barbara Gross Davis, Jossey-Bass Publishers: San Francisco, 1993), students should be encouraged to become self-motivated, independent learners. As professors, we can help accomplish this by: giving frequent, early, positive feedback that supports students’ beliefs that they can do well. We can also ensure opportunities for students’ success by assigning tasks that are neither too easy nor too difficult. Strive to set high, but not unrealistic expectations of them in their assessments and interactions. Avoid busy work at all costs. They had enough of that in high school. By avoiding busy work and keeping students on task, you can keep them motivated.
Students are human. Humans like to be rewarded. Therefore, reward students’ success. Praise helps build self-esteem and self-confidence, which in turn, helps motivate students to move on to the next task. When possible, introduce them to work done by classmates which is exceptional.
First, instructors must demonstrate that they possess a high level of knowledge of the subject matter. Second, instructor enthusiasm requires keeping a positive attitude towards students. Third, instructors can help improve student learning by showing genuine interest in the subject matter they are teaching, as well as in the material they use to teach the course.
The approach instructors use for teaching is important. Helping students make connections with other students, try different ways of framing the same topic, enhancing lectures to take into account attention cycles, using storytelling, … Any method that can help humanize lectures and cater to different learning styles is useful.
Make interesting lectures, arrange emotional and involved discussions, repeatedly link the course material to real life, and you will see even the struggling learner pursue the course with stubbornness and resilience. This will surely be a rewarding experience!
Online courses have a strong advantage of the availability and abundance of relevant educational materials on the Web. Thus, your task as a tutor is to provide guidance on further reading and studying by giving links to free, easily accessible resources.
Feedback is critical in online learning. When the educational process takes place in a classroom, the teacher has numerous opportunities to give feedback in real time , thus streamlining students and pinpointing their mistakes early.
An excellent way to guarantee flawless, engaging organization of your online lessons is to rely on modern technology for lesson design (such as BookWidgets ). You also reap benefits in the form of quicker lesson planning, less time spent on grading, and the use of contemporary ICT in the course.
A real-life classroom affords some improvisation because of the numerous kinds of activities that groups can conduct. However, in the online space, good planning and organization are the clue to effective learning and student interest.
By giving concrete examples and linking theory to practice, teachers ensure the relatedness of their course, which has a long-term positive impact on motivation .
People are not universal; some students perceive information in the visual form better, while other are audial personalities. Students have different cognitive styles, and the real-life classroom gives a richness of educational opportunities for students of all kinds, but in online learning, some components may lack, leaving some students beyond the scope of effective studying. Thus, it is the task of a tutor to make sure that his/her course materials include visual, audial, and textual format to give all students an equal opportunity of comprehension.
Inattentiveness and disinterest of students are among the primary concerns about online classes. More often than not, parents find their students distracted by their phones while the teacher is delivering the class. The screen is mere background noise.
To replicate the engagement and interactivity of a physical class in a virtual setting, teachers can simply ask questions to students about the topic at timely intervals.
As every student is unique in their own capacity, a teacher has to don multiple hats to cater to the instructional needs of each student. Some students understand concepts better when explained visually whereas some others can comprehend better by just listening.
Aside from the regular disciplines, educators also need to focus on teaching important life skills to students. Teamwork and leadership qualities are favoured in professional settings and to sharpen these, teachers can assign group work to students.
One of the merits of online education is that it allows self-paced learning opportunities. This is especially beneficial for working professionals and adults with additional commitments as it allows them to study in their own time.
Feedback is a crucial element of online learning. In a physical setting, teachers can give feedback in real-time that can help students identify their mistakes sooner. However, because this isn’t possible in the online forum, teachers need to give timely and sensitive feedback to keep students from deviating.
LIFE LESSONS : Students in distance learning classes are isolated from the group dynamics of the physical classroom experience. Those classroom dynamics often allow the sharing of creative work. The old Herzberg studies on motivation (Herzberg, F. (1968) “One more time: How do you motivate employees?” Harvard Business Review, 46, 53-62) suggested that people develop pride in their work and want recognition for their good work. What better way to accomplish this for online students then to have students choose their work, enhance their work as they see fit, and show it off using the internet tools currently available!
Distance Learning literature suggests self-motivation as a main criteria for success in distance learning and online classes. Accordingly, I hypothesized that a change in the online instruction of computer classes to include motivation planning could lead to an increase in persistence levels in online classes. In an attempt to find ways to improve self-motivation, I found information here in the motivation section of the On Course website that I found helpful. For example, Paul R. Pintrich & Dale H. Schunk, authors of Motivation in Education, are quoted as saying, “Most professionals agree that we infer the presence of motivation from the behavior indicators: 1.Choice of tasks: Selection of task under free-choice conditions indicates motivation to perform the task…” I decided to provide choices for the student’s tasks (assignments) as a way to improve their self-motivation.
PROBLEM: Student retention in online computer classes is lower than on-ground classes at our college. Our college statistics show that students in online computer classes have a drop rate of 30% compared to a drop rate of 10-15% in on-ground classes. When I counsel students who have not been successful in online classes, they often attribute their difficulties to the lack of stimulation and motivational elements that do exist in the on-ground classroom. The elements in the on-ground classroom include the physical presence of a teacher and fellow class members, interaction with the class, and the added sensory element of sound.
The elements in the on-ground classroom include the physical presence of a teacher and fellow class members, interaction with the class, and the added sensory element of sound. Distance Learning literature suggests self-motivation as a main criteria for success in distance learning and online classes. Accordingly, I hypothesized that ...
The challenge for eLearning designers is to create and cultivate motivation in learners.
You want your learners to approach your eLearning course as the training they WANT to take, and NOT something that they are being made to go through. Right? You want your learners to be motivated, NOT indifferent to the learning. You want focused, willing learners who are driven by some innate urge to take your course. Truth is self-motivated participants absorb and internalize learning much more efficiently than those who approach a training program with skepticism, unwillingness, and apathy.
Simply stated, motivation is what people WANT to do, CHOOSE to do, and COMMIT to do. Motivation is the WHY that makes people do what they do. It is the WHY that makes people choose an object or a goal over another and forego something pleasurable to pursue his object of desire.
Achievement-oriented: It should challenge learners to do their best and provides confidence that learners can achieve end goals. The above-mentioned motivation theories peek into the minds of your learners and lay bare their expectations so that you can create eLearning courses with different flavors. Further Readings:
Instant straightforward and direct feedback helps learners advance through the tasks. Feedback ensures that they can learn from their mistakes, if any, right then. Feedback also boosts the confidence of the person; he/she feels safe that he is doing great. Balance challenges with learner ability and time.
Specify the tasks clearly. Explain what they have to do without leaving any room for doubt. This not only helps learners perform the task efficiently but also establishes the relevance of the task concerning the overarching learning objective.
Motivation is critical to achieve effective learning. Unfortunately, it is hard to achieve if you cannot address the WHY of the learner. To compound matters, adults are notoriously short of motivation.
Plan for interaction! Make sure your course is rich in opportunities for students to engage with the content, with you and with each other. This means creating diverse activities like discussions, group work, case studies and collaborative problem-solving. Also, be sure to select resources that are relevant and present a variety of viewpoints and meet different learning styles. Consider multimedia, periodicals, web resources, etc.
Using the learning objectives you can become more selective in what you include in your course. This selection process is known as alignment. Alignment occurs when the course component (activity, assignment, material, technology and/or assessment) will help the student meet the learning objectives. To get started, build a Conceptual Framework for each module. In this framework outline the learning by identifying the course competencies and learning objectives for the module. Then review the course components (each piece of your module that you identified in the module map process) and see if they fit (align), i.e. contribute to the student achieving the stated learning objective. If a component does not align you need to either change the objective, change the course component or if it is essential to keep this non-aligned component, make sure that it is clearly identified as supplemental.
In Maricopa there are “course level” competencies that are designed and written by faculty at the district level through the Instructional Council for each discipline . Course competencies are what is required to be covered and taught in every course. For course design and mapping, especially online, a faculty member designs activities, assessments, lectures, etc. to teach those competencies….along the way students will learn incrementally – those are unit or module level learning objectives. These help students understand what they will be learning, how all the activities and assignments help them learn, and then in the end see where they have been.
Tip: Well designed C.A.T.s include a planning, implementing and responding phase.
According to a 10 year study conducted by the Online Learning Consortium, 6.7 million students have taken at least one online course and roughly thirty-two percent of all higher-education students now take at least one online course during their educational career. And these numbers continue to rise.
We all love our course content! As a result, it is tempting to throw everything into your course in an effort to spark that same love in the heart of your students. But how do students know what is important and essential to their learning? How do we help them focus?
Online education is not an “alternative” to traditional classroom learning.
An effectively designed online course or program must take into account multiple factors – the characteristics of targeted learners, the nature of the content, the role of the community in shaping learning, and integration of ongoing feedback and assessment; ample opportunities for practice and expert feedback to guide the development of knowledge in action.
Instructional Design is a broad term that encompasses the selection, organization, sequencing, and assessment of content, tools, and experiences to help learners attain a certain set of goals. Poorly designed technology-based courses can confound learning, frustrate learners and instructors, and result in high attrition rates.
Visual media –such as animations and simulations– can help learners enhance their understanding of concepts, such as object identification and spatial relationships. Visual media which portray motion can demonstrate psychomotor or cognitive domain expectations by showing the skill as a model against which students can measure their performance. Images can enhance vocabulary and reading comprehension for poor readers. Full motion video can be used to depict performance so that learners can copy the movement. Audio narration can help poor readers comprehend information and music can serve as a memory aid. Literacy research shows that readers remember what they’ve read if key words are highlighted by different colors and font styles. Color coding concepts is also an effective visual mnemonic.
Research on adult learning demonstrates that adult learners share common characteristics and beliefs that can be integrated into any learning experience. Adult learners:
Flexibly designed courses favor “ill structured” activities over well-structured ones; interactivity over passivity; inductive over deductive instruction; and activity over text and lecture. Such course design supports both the individual and group’s learning and promotes applied approaches to learning.
A mix of media is more effective than the reliance on one type of media because it satisfies the many types of learning preferences that one person may embody or that a class embodies. Particularly in print- and web-based professional development courses which are primarily text heavy, the use of still and moving visual media can help learners who are poor readers better understand content.
Cognitive models or “frames of mind” shape the way learners perceive and process information and suggest that an individual’s ability to learn is influenced by the manner in which information is presented. Course designers should create an array of assignments, activities, and assessments that allow learners to interact and practice with content in multiple ways, on multiple cognitive levels and using multiple measures and methods to assess learning.
Another characteristic of adult online learners is the need for flexibility . “Among our faculty, we try to shift the culture so that when working with adult learners, it’s not one size fits all. Flexibility is really the key,” says Amy Moore, program manager for instruction. “We want our instructors to be mindful of the fact that our online learners are preoccupied with other things going on in their lives, and while we want to make sure that they are learning, if a student is having some personal issues, we should allow the student to submit an assignment late rather than being unyielding and rigid.”
To help prevent students from falling behind and perhaps dropping the course, instructors use an early alert system in which they check the grade book to determine whether each student is keeping up with the work.