Motivation and online learning

Abstract

This paper is based on a post-graduate thesis which received an A at the Institute for Adult Education (VOX) spring 2004 and looks at which measures can be facilitated such that the teaching principle of motivation is optimized during development of online learning for the Norwegian Defence(NoD). These measures are collected in a checklist to ensure pedagogical quality and focus on student motivation. This list has become a standard piece of the information available to NoD courseware developers and is included in NoD`s methodology for developing elearning. By looking at the Didactical Relational Theory (DRT), well-known principles of learning and variables affecting success with online learning, the checklist helps to ensure that student motivation is optimised in all NoD online courses. The checklist contains the following important aspects tied to achieving student motivation: Objectives and goals, involvement, feedback, emotions, socialisation and self-efficacy. During the last couple of years the checklist has been successfully used during the development of a number of online courses. These courses include both hardskills courses such as application- and computer systems training and soft-skills courses such as education in laws of armed conflict.