This study investigated students’ attitudes and motivations toward online learning. Students in the online course, Introduction to the Visual Arts, were asked to complete questionnaires administered during the first and last week of the online course. A group of questions on Attitude was asked on both surveys. Questions on Interest, Self-management, and Locus of Control were asked only at the beginning of the course. The end of class survey included questions on Study Process Approach. Students in the study were found to have a strong internal Locus of Control. A significant correlation was found between a more internal locus of control and relying on surface strategies for learning. Another significant result was found on the Attitude pre- and post-course comparison regarding missing interaction with other students and getting more information through an online course. Generally, students’ attitude toward online learning was more positive during the last week of the course than in the first week. The study showed that this online course provided a sufficient amount of student to instructor interaction, a high amount of student to material interaction, and a low amount of student to student interaction.
Tag: Student Motivation
A Unique Review Strategy that Motivates Student Learning
The use of educational games such as crossword puzzles, word search puzzles, modified television game shows, or commercial board and card games are attempts to make learning more fun and motivational regardless of the level of educational experience. This article explains how I have employed the melding of many of these games into one motivational and educational strategy. Students who faithfully availed themselves of the activities consistently improved their test scores and their overall grades within the course.
Cooperative Learning, Responsibility, Ambiguity, Controversy and Support in Motivating Students
This paper argues that student motivation is nurtured more by intrinsic rather than extrinsic rewards. Rather than relying on grades alone to stimulate students, this paper explores how engendering a natural critical learning environment can give students a sense of ownership in their own learning and lead to their commitment to that learning. We examine uses of cooperative learning, shared responsibility, ambiguity, controversy and support in student motivation.
Positive Expectations: A Reflective Tale on the Teaching of Writing
A case study on the teaching of writing, this paper discusses what motivates students in a freshman writing course to complete increasingly difficult writing assignments. The study provides a glimpse into how one class of freshman students developed positive expectations for writing a paper about a difficult poem by helping each other map strategies for reading and writing.
The Little Engine That Could – How to Start the Motor? Motivating the Online Student
Motivation is a function of initiating and sustaining goal-directed action. In addition to individual variables, student motivation is influenced by situational variables that include course design, instructional approach, and to a great extent, faculty behavior. This article presents classic literature on motivation and offers a grounded set of instructional methods and strategies with which faculty can spark and sustain motivation that leads to deep rather than superficial learning in the online learner. These classic motivational techniques have a direct relationship with today’s online learner. The authors highlight the significance of external influences and describe some of the many opportunities available to faculty to enhance the motivation of online students to learn.
Student Motivation in Computer Networking Courses
This paper introduces several hands-on projects that have been used to motivate students in learning various computer networking concepts. These projects are shown to be very useful and applicable to the learners’ daily tasks and activities such as emailing, Web browsing, and online shopping and banking, and lead to an unexpected byproduct, self-motivation.