5 tips to strengthen your motivation to learn in an online environment

1. Find out the reasons for being motivated to learn

The fact is that we humans are selfish to such an extent that we only want to learn if we can identify with the content we are learning and find it useful to ourselves.

A learner-oriented approach to the content production of trainings increases motivation. It makes learners feel that the knowledge they receive not only needs to be stored in memory, but it is something that they can apply to their lives. 

Important for learning motivation is the learner's ability to relate what has been learned to previous experiences. Emotions also play a significant role in learning motivation. Anything that appeals to emotions is engaging and engaging.

In her book Design for How People Learn, Julie Dirksen emphasizes the importance of the goals of education. When you plan any training, you have (1) a problem to solve, (2) the people who need to solve it, and (3) a clear goal that the solution aims to achieve.

However, before you start solving the problem with the help of training, you should know what the problem actually is. So you don't set goals until you've figured out:

• Why do you need to know this? Why is it important?
• What concrete things can learners do once they have learned this?
• How do we know they're doing what they've learned?
• What can happen if you don't know how to do it?

By asking the right questions, you can define a goal for education that is measurable, as well as concrete, clear and, above all, useful for learners. When the goal is clear in the mind, it is easier for the learner to understand why it is important to learn that thing.

2. Give the opportunity to choose and influence

It is important for us adults to be able to make complex and important decisions independently. This also applies to learning.

Eliminating the possibility of choice can kill motivation. The motivating and engaging online course provides the learner with a variety of choices they can make along the way that match their skills, background knowledge, and abilities. By giving the learner opportunities to make choices, you give them a sense of control, and not just force-feed the information.

In an online course, choice can be offered, for example, with different branching scenarios or by creating content taking into account different degrees of difficulty. By creating individual learning paths, you can increase flexibility in going through the learning materials. The learner can be offered various ways to demonstrate their competence and submit assignments, such as videos, blogs and images.

As I mentioned at the beginning, compulsion is a poor motivator. Forcing progression while going through the material can be detrimental to motivation. So consider whether there really are weighty reasons for coercion in terms of learning?

3. Feed motivation with appropriate challenges

Creating sustainable motivation also requires a suitable amount of challenge. In the world of learning, this issue is driven by tasks that guide us to think deeply or solve problems.

So we need challenges to learn better. At its best, working on solving problems increases commitment to what is being learned and leads to deeper learning.

Working at an appropriate level of difficulty is a factor in motivation. However, when creating learning materials and assignments, you should avoid producing content that is too challenging or, on the other hand, too easy for the target group. Content that is too challenging can be discouraging, while content that is too easy seems boring.

It is not worth heading to a specialist with content intended for a novice and vice versa. In online education, the "everything for all" mentality is often not effective. Knowing the target group and their entry level is important to avoid losing motivation due to misjudged challenge.

4. Enable a sense of community

Collaboration is a vital skill for people of all ages to learn that can be practiced through discussions, teamwork exercises, or projects.

It can be challenging to create a sense of community in connection with online training, especially if the course is short in duration. Interaction between learners creates a sense of community, and communality makes learning more interesting and fun. When we get to discuss what we have learned, think about solutions to problems or share information with our peers, learning is active.

Active learning helps us apply the knowledge we have learned. Discussions and collaboration help us bring the content we're learning into context. So when producing content, it's a good idea for you to consider whether the learner is meant to be a reader or whether the intention is to enable reciprocal peer learning.

A supportive and collaborative learning community helps the learner acquire and utilize knowledge. Although in an online course we often get to know the material on our own, we do not learn in isolation from others. At its best, community helps create a sense of belonging that keeps students engaged and motivates them to persevere.

5. Grab the learner's attention

In order for an online course to even have the opportunity to motivate to learn and engage what has been learned, it must attract the learner's attention. The formula is relatively simple: (1) attract attention (2) arouse interest (3) keep the interest going. 

The most effective way to implement a course according to the above formula is to produce engaging and activating content. So what if we produced the content by taking into account visuals, interactivity and different media elements?

Carefully selected images add interest to the course. Impressive images are of high quality, visually pleasing and, most importantly, related to the topic of the course. It is good to have a clean and clear overall look of the course. Therefore, choose a layout that allows this. The power of a functional graphic design and layout should never be underestimated.

Interactivity is also a powerful tool and, when used correctly, increases motivation. The interaction can be between learners and trainers or between the learner and the learning environment.

Especially in the course, which is studied at your own pace, the interaction between the learner and the learning environment is emphasized. To do this, use activities to give the learner instant feedback. It is a good idea to choose the activities thoughtfully and in such a way that they are relevant to learning.

Moderation in everything is a good guideline even in an online course. In her book The Accidental Instructional Designer, Cammy Bean emphasizes that over-clicking is a distraction for the learner. Just because learners are forced to use "drag-and-drop" functions to complete a chapter doesn't necessarily mean they want to do so. 

Videos, podcasts, animations: all of these can arouse interest in and maintain interest in the content of the course. The combination of a content-related image, well-written text, and a friendly voice can be exactly what determines a learner's motivation and commitment to the course material.

The desire to learn overcomes compulsion

Motivated learners are more likely to engage in challenging tasks, participate actively, and even enjoy learning. Thus, we open up the goals for learning, give the learner the opportunity to actively influence studying, take into account the skill levels of the target group, enable interaction and create a visually interesting set. With these tools, the motivation curve for learning turns into a solid rise! ?‍♀️
 

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