Motivating Students in an online environment
What are some special techniques that an instructor can use in an online environment to motivate students?
Hi JoAnn,
When I teach online courses I set up a lot of interactive discussion groups and that has for me been very effective. I also use case studies and the students really get involved in them as well.
Gary
I am just in my second quarter of teaching online, but I like to give students the opportunity to interact both in and out of the class environment. There are lots of discussions each week, but I also have an assignment where they have a partner and the two of them work through an assignment.
I think it is valuable for the students to get to know someone outside the classroom, even if it is just an exchange of phone calls or e-mails so they can get the assignment done.
What techniques have you tried, JoAnn?
In most of my classes students are required to participate with classmates in discussions and I encourage them to ask questions about others' postings as well as share life experiences. If a student can tie in the newly learned material with thie life experiences, they will be motivated to acquire more new knowledge that they an apply to their lives.
Hi JoAnn,
You got the right approach to your instruction because you are helping the students to see the relevancy of the content and the application of their newly acquired knowledge. This is what learning is all about for students in any type of learning environment.
Gary
Ask more key on point specific questions.
Give an extra credit assignment, for example have them reply to an email by midnight with questions to extra credit...make it fun, yet meaninful.
A lot of times, in online classes, there are participation requirements for discussions, or sometimes group work.
For one thing, I think it helps alot too when the instructor has set clear parameters for the online classroom because some students are nervous about having do their lessons online; sometimes the technology and the fact that they cannot exactly 'see' their instructor is a completely new experience, so they need to know where the 'walls' are (so to speak ...)
By this I mean that if the instructor has the ability to add definiton/clarity in situations that may be a bit vague for students (for example, if they have questions about how to complete assignments or deadlines), it helps a great deal.
R,
This is very good information for online instructors to remember. I can remember my first online course and the challenges I had feeling like I could become a part of the class. The more communication and specifics we can share with the students the more comfortable they are going to be in the course.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
