For those with experience of face-to-face teaching, a useful technique for understanding online learning issues is to relate them to a similar scenario in face-to-face learning. How do students stay motivated in a face-to-face environment? Students may feel motivated if:

• They have a clear understanding of the relevance and purpose of the study
  
• The study is varied, interesting and challenging
  
• They feel comfortable in the learning environment
  
• They feel a sense of achievement and that they are progressing and learning
  
• They feel they are being listened to and that their contributions have value
  
• There is opportunity for personal interaction and socialisation
  
• They have adequate support when they encounter problems
  
• They enjoy the learning process

These issues are no different in an online environment and can be addressed through course and activity design and through the relationships built between teacher and student and between students.

Relevance and purpose

There are several ways students can be encouraged to see the relevance and purpose of online study. These can include:

• Clear information at the start about what the course is, where it can lead and its validity as an online alternative.
  
• Clear information as to the learning objectives and the assessment criteria of the course.
  
• An indication of how each activity relates to the learning objectives.
  
• Activities that relate to the student’s own experience or have a practical application.

This can be encompassed in the information students receive at the start of the course, in the information given with each activity or through summaries or reflection at the end of each section or module. As an example, the teacher could send an email at the end of each section that confirms each student’s successful completion of the segment and also reflects on the relevance of the tasks accomplished in terms of practical application and also learning objectives.

Varied, interesting and challenging

Use of a variety of styles of activity and interaction can help maintain interest and can also allow a course to cater for different learning styles. Variety can help students remain oriented in the online environment, as a succession of similar tasks can be repetitive, and also can deter plagiarism by requiring students to communicate on different levels and with different ‘voices’. Varying the sequence of activity types can also help students and teachers manage their workload by avoiding having several time consuming tasks in a row.

Different activity types can include:

• Individual, paired or group tasks
  
• Essays, reports or short answers tests
  
• Discussions, debates, collaborative tasks (where a final product has to be devised), case studies or role plays
  
• Multiple choice quizzes, games, self-assessed quizzes, webquests, weblogs, interactive exercises such as ‘drag-and-drop’.

Online delivery could also allow you to offer activities of varying difficulty to suit those at higher levels. An example would be to have additional optional quizzes, games or individual tasks of increasing difficulty for students who have accomplished the set tasks and need further challenges.

Comfortable in the learning environment

Unless students have studied online before, they are liable to fear that they are not ‘doing it right’. Even experienced online students can have this insecurity at the start of a new course so it is important to ensure all students are comfortable in the online learning environment in order to encourage quality learning.  The following are some ways to help students feel comfortable and confident:

• Provide an appropriate induction so that they feel confident with the technology and what is expected of them. Induction can include:
  
  • How to access the class online
    
  • The details of the class including deadlines and expectations
    
  • Getting to know their teacher
    
  • Getting to know their peers
    
  • How to understand and use the technology
    
  • How to seek help
• Try and predict what problems may occur or insecurities students may have so these can be pre-empted through course design or information sharing.
  
• Respond promptly to emails, especially at the start of a course
  
• Make sure responses are personalised and directly address any concerns expressed by the student
  
• Intervene quickly and supportively if the student seems to be having problems
  
• Reassure students as to their ability to work well online
  
• Give overt praise where it is due
  
• Direct students to further help if needed

Being listened to and having value

The nature of a student’s contribution to a class can affect their motivation, as can the response they receive. The teacher’s relationship with each student, and the nature of their interaction with them, may have the greatest impact and this is made more problematic by the lack of non-verbal communication in the online environment e.g. no body language, facial expression or voice tone. The teacher can help students feel they are being listened to by:

• Giving swift responses, even if only to acknowledge receipt of work.
  
• Giving constructive and positive feedback.
  
• Giving clear and unambiguous directions if work needs to be redone or supplemented.
  
• Making sure responses are personalised so the student feels the teacher has listened to them as an individual.
  
• Showing a willingness to engage in any discussion or exploration over and above the minimum required if it is relevant to the course aims.
  
• Being alert to problems with the course design or content that need to be corrected
  
• Being alert to inappropriate or negative behaviour from other students.

The teacher can’t guarantee positive or thoughtful responses from peers but a constructive group dynamic can be encouraged. This can be done through an appropriate induction that allows students to get to know each other and to build a rapport. ‘Ground rules’ for appropriate behaviour can also be explored during induction and can be reinforced by the modelling of ideal behaviour by the teacher. Allowing some social interaction can also help build positive relationships as well as provide a controlled outlet for inevitable social tangents (the equivalent of chatting or passing notes in a classroom).

Sense of achievement and progress

Only the most mature and confident online students will be able to make a contribution without fearing they have misunderstood the topic or that they are the least experienced and skilled in their group. The teacher can have a considerable impact on a student’s confidence in their progress and abilities through the nature of their interactions with students. The following are some techniques to encourage this:

• Respond constructively and positively to student work. An example of a constructive response technique is to use a ‘praise sandwich’ where any criticism is sandwiched between two positive comments. This helps students recognise their strengths and feel more optimistic about their weaknesses.
  
• Give regular updates on each student’s progress with positive acknowledgements of their achievements. This could be done through an email at the end of each section that confirms the successful completion of the segment, highlights any work that was of a high standard, the particular strengths of the student and any areas that need to be improved.
  
• Design courses with learning in manageable ‘chunks’ so students can see their progress as they complete each section.
  
• Design activities that, at regular intervals, encourage students to summarise or reflect on what they have learned.
  
• Integrate regular self-assessed tasks, such as automated quizzes, so that students can consolidate what they have learned and confirm their progress.
  
• Help students manage their workload so they don’t fall behind and feel discouraged. Techniques for this include having a clear course structure with regular, enforced deadlines or synchronisation points, giving regular reminders of deadlines, contacting students who are falling behind and sharing good time and information management techniques.

Personal interaction and socialisation

Personal interaction can form a large part of the learning experience in face to face learning so should be encouraged online in a manner that doesn’t detract from educational aims. Students will ask questions of their peers that they may be reticent to ask teachers and scheduled interaction can prevent covert socialisation that gets in the way of study.

Social interaction online doesn’t always happen spontaneously as it does in a face-to-face environment. This can be because students don’t know each other or are afraid to make the first move because they can’t see the familiar marker points that tell them what the social structure is. There are various methods for encouraging interaction, including:

• Setting ‘icebreaker’ tasks at the start of a course. These can encompass email or discussion based games designed to encourage the sharing of personal information, such as:
  
  • A list of questions to be answered and shared
    
  • A ‘round robin’ quiz where each answers a question then poses another
    
  • Web searches for facts of personal interest
    
  • True/False quizzes
    
  • Description of yourself using a song/book/film/animal
• Set activities that require students to work in pairs or groups to share ideas or to collaborate on an outcome.
  
• Providing a space for non-work related interaction such as a ‘Café’ conference in a discussion board or a social chat room.
  
• Having occasional or initial face-to-face meetings so that students can interact on a more familiar level.

Adequate support

There are few things less motivating, especially when using technology that can be unreliable, than having problems that aren’t being addressed. It is important to have adequate support mechanisms for students, to ensure that they know how to access them and, to help teachers manage their workload, to encourage alternative support resources. Some strategies for providing adequate support include:

• Clear information provided at the start of a course as to the process students need to go through to access support, including contact details of support staff.
  
• Help or Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) sections on the class web site for common and recurring problems.
  
• The building of a rapport between student and teacher so students are confident to ask questions or voice concerns.
  
• Provision of prompt responses to problems.
  
• Encouragement of peer interaction so students can provide support for each other.

Enjoyment

All of the above should lead to a successful learning experience but don’t forget also to make the learning fun. This can be through:

• The use of humour and light-hearted interaction
  
• Using quizzes and games for learning
  
• Encouraging informal interaction
  
• Applying learning to everyday situations
  
• Being enthusiastic

Online learning may not suit all students and there are no guarantees that any course design or delivery will suit all learning styles but it is possible for course designers and teachers to help students stay motivated in an online environment through an understanding of what makes learning interesting. The application of skills learned through face-to-face teaching combined with an understanding of the experience of the online student will help create programmes that retain a student’s interest and help them gain confidence in their abilities.