http://www.studentaffairs.com/ejournal/Fall_2002/motivatingelearners.html

Motivating E-Learners - A Case Study of E-Learners Seeking An Advanced Degree From UNITAR

Dr. Kamal Kishore Jain
Associate Professor, Faculty of Business Administration
University Tun Abdul Razak (UNITAR), Malaysia

Student Affairs Online: Fall 2002 • Vol. 3, No. 4

Virtual education is the biggest breakthrough experienced by the education system in recent times. While virtual education stands out as a solution towards elevating the "educated" status of humankind, it also falls prey to the education system's biggest problem - motivating its audience/students. Maintaining and sustaining the motivational level of e-learners is a big challenge for this type of education. A high drop out rate from such courses is a clue that this system of education requires additional efforts on the part of educators to motivate their students. Critics of online distance education have alarmed the public recently with reports of severe drop rates and attrition in online classes. The notion that more students will drop out of online classes than traditional face-to-face classes enjoys the widespread acceptance usually reserved for scientific precepts (Parker, 1999; Carr, 2000). Like many of the over hyped e-revolutions, Internet-enabled e-learning has fallen on hard times. But looking back at the recent click-and-drag curricula and virtual classrooms, it seems clear the problem lies not with the concept of e-learning, but with its execution (Lee, Bhattacharya, & Nelson, 2002). "Convenience" and "flexibility," being its selling points, e-learning is established as the "alternative" mode of upgrading one's self, minus the hassles inherent in the conventional mode. Nevertheless, despite its "convenience" and "flexibility" themes, motivation remains a persistent problem and an eyesore that stains this proven and reliable technique. This paper is based on the personal experiences of the author in teaching in a virtual university for the last three years as well as on the structured feedback obtained from the students seeking an advanced degree from UNITAR, Malaysia. Reported observations are based on those experiences. The paper covers two important aspects of e-learning: a) motivating students for their face-to-face (FTF) and on-line time (OLT) classes, and b) motivating students to work on their assignments.

Motivational Issues Affecting E-Learners
Several years ago, before anyone coined the term "e-learning," Thomas L. Russell set about reviewing the 300 or more studies conducted over more than 75 years comparing the virtues of different media for education and training (Shepherd, 2001). Was the classroom the best? How about correspondence courses or CD-ROM? After all this endeavor, Russell may have been a little disappointed to note the common finding that emerged from all these studies - that there was really no significant difference in the effectiveness of one medium over another (Shepherd, 2001). The "No Significant Difference Phenomenon," highlights that the choice of medium in itself does not guarantee effectiveness. What makes the difference is the way that we do it. Some classroom courses are delivered well, some badly. It's a similar story with e-learning, except here it's the motivation that makes the difference.

The challenge for educators is therefore the same as it has always been: how to help students learn. The difference between the blackboard-bound and the cyber-connected classroom is just a matter of space, and educators must learn how that space helps to define student perceptions of education.

In e-learning, from a technology-usage standpoint, not only are the methods of education different from the conventional "bricks-and-mortar" set up, most of all so are the characteristics of the students involved (Diaz, 2000; Gibson & Graff, 1992; Thompson, 1998). Banking on the concept of "flexibility," e-learning requires additional discipline from its student, as a substitute towards the absence of daily classes and a fixed time table. This "flexibility" also results in "lack of supervision" on the progress of students, further increasing the need to motivate them.

Motivating Students for their Face-to-Face and On Line Time Classes
As mentioned earlier, UNITAR has adopted a blended model of delivering education. It consists of on-line meetings with the students as well as a limited face to face meetings with them. At UNITAR, students come for their FTF classes only four times in a semester. Each class is of three-hour duration. Although FTF classes in the virtual mode are not much different from the conventional mode, there is a difference in the sense that the number of such meetings is very limited. The following eight general strategies have been found useful in motivating and sustaining the interest of the students in FTF and OLT.

1. Provide an overview of the course material in the first lecture. In the first FTF meeting the lecturer can ask students to write a 2-page essay on what this course is about. This assignment requires reflections from students, motivates them, and increases their interest about the course.

2. Provide the framework for learning. One major task of the lecturer/facilitator in a face-to-face class, especially in the initial stages of a course, is to act as an administrator, i.e. to provide the framework for learning, including the setting up of the course agenda, objectives, rules, and the procedure to liaise and communicate with the students. This would reduce students' apprehensions related to the course content and help them to set their own goals and plans for study, whereby a well thought out study plan would assist students to stay focused and stay motivated to keep in pace with the running of the course.

3. Practice collaborative learning. Learning is enhanced when it is more like a team effort than a solo race. Good learning, like good work, is collaborative and social, not competitive and isolated. Working with others often increases involvement in learning. Sharing one's own ideas and responding to others' reactions sharpens thinking and deepens understanding. To motivate learners, the faculty may develop reciprocity and cooperation among students in order to encourage them to attend FTF classes. The first face-to-face class should be used to divide the class into groups for assignment and other purposes. Each student should be given the contact number and e-mail I.D. of all other students.

4. Facilitate degree of interaction. Be it FTF or OLT, classes that are conducted in a "one way traffic" manner, i.e. the lecturer does all the talking, would not serve to motivate students to attend or participate. In respect of this, credit is given to lecturers who are able to attract his/her students to participate, i.e. by responding to questions/providing feedback or highlighting ideas. To facilitate interaction, the need to establish the following ground rules is essential.

   a) No criticism should be allowed. This is to encourage participation without the fear of being criticized.

   b) Recognize contribution. Responses or suggestions should be given due recognition, be it in the form of praises or to be utilized further for other discussions. Most importantly, reward the act of knowledge sharing.

5. Encourage interaction with other e-learners and an e-instructor. Chat rooms, discussion boards, instant messaging and e-mail all offer effective interaction for e-learners and do a good job of taking the place of classroom discussion. Building an online community significantly influences the success of online programs. As in print-based distance education, the instructor's influence on student learning is found mostly in the course design; in web-based distance education, their influence is increased by the opportunity to interact more with students (http://learn.gmcc.ab.ca/lol/staff/lit_comp.cfm)). Research by Corporate University Xchange (www.corpu.com), an education and research-consulting firm, questioned students who had recently completed online courses. They found that the second most-mentioned request was active correspondence with an online facilitator with frequent virtual office hours.

6. Provide students with an "agenda" prior to classes. Students feel more prepared to attend classes (be it FTF or OLT) when they have the "agenda," as in the topic of discussion, format of presentation or presentation slides with them before hand. By possessing a rough idea as to what is to be expected from the class, assists them in preparing them for the class. This leads to added confidence to participate, and increases their motivation to attend class. From a UNITAR context, the Courseware and Course Outline provides a good reference point for students. In addition to this, frequent e-mails attached with "previews" (in the form of PowerPoint slides) on upcoming classes further assists in preparing as well as motivating students to attend classes.

7. Make learning fun. What's the single, biggest obstacle to motivate e-learners continuing to grow and fulfilling the learning goals? Is it the rapid change of technology? Is it the lack of human contact? Is it the reluctance of the e-leaner to make the change? No, none of these is irresolvable. The problem is much more likely to be plain boredom. Too many courses deal with abstract concepts, rather than real-world practice; they're passive when learners want to be doing things; they're sterile when what's required is a little excitement. In other words, they're just plain dull, and dull won't hack it with a generation reared on techno music, action movies and video games. Of course, dullness isn't the exclusive privilege of e-learning - so much of our education and training is dull, whether it's delivered face-to-face or at a distance. We could all do with a bit more fun in our lives. According to US motivational guru, Anne Bruce, people who have fun at work are not only doing their job, they are doing it at a higher level. And what goes for work goes for learning too. We'd probably all agree that the most fun and the most effective learning experiences that we've had have been when we've been able to get stuck into something practical - a project, a case study, an assignment, a game, or something that offers us a chance to try things out for ourselves. David Klaila, Managing Director of Celemi Learning Business, believes that "e-learning consumers should expect programs that incorporate the same innovative tools and techniques used in the computer gaming industry - such as graphics, interaction, and skill-building challenges - to deliver an educational experience that's compelling, informative, and fun" (Klaila, 2001). Games and simulations are capable of pushing back the boundaries of what we can expect from an e-learning experience, and not just in terms of gimmickry and entertainment value. Engaging, life-like and highly-interactive learning activities are capable of providing the foundation for second generation e-learning products that really deliver on the hype.

8. Take into account special considerations of OLT. The above description works well both for FTF and OLT classes. However, conducting OLT class requires special considerations on the part of the presenter to motivate and sustain the interest of the participants. Following strategies have been found useful in this regard.
   a) Vary the types of content - Images, sounds and text work together to build memory in several areas of the brain and result in better retention of the material. Games, quizzes and even just requiring the manipulation of something on the screen creates more interest, which in turn builds better retention. The worst experience anyone can encounter in an e-learning environment is finding traditional written training materials simply moved to the computer screen. This is boring and ineffective and a waste of time for pretty much everyone involved. The biggest virtue of OLT is that the presenter can make use of text, graphics, images, audio and video clips, and animation. However, the students reported that only one in ten lecturers make use of this mix.

   b) Invite experts - Apart from the usual tutorial manner of delivery of study materials, an OLT session could also be utilized as an online forum for the class, ideally, sometimes in a form of a symposium whereby invitation to experts in certain fields could be arranged to present their viewpoints and students all log on for an opportunity to ask questions. This opportunity to hear from the experts and exchange ideas with them without the need to physically travel but instead participate at their own convenience (e.g. in the comfort of their home) would certainly motivate students to log on.

   c) Use co-presenters - The use of CENTRA technology also allows lecturers to promote their students as co-presenters. This author has found the use of this technique to be an immensely powerful tool for motivating students.

   d) Limit page-file size - Keeping pages to 40 kilobytes or less works well for online classes. The magic number appears to be about 15 seconds for the maximum time users will wait for a page to load.

   e) Use course navigation tools - such tools should be intuitive. Including links to "help," an online community, and glossaries or other references are often appreciated by students.

   f) Use simple fonts - This is very helpful in conducting OLT. Fonts like Arial and Times New Roman are easier to read on screen. Also, remember that the font you choose must be on the user's computer system or a substitute font will be used. This can cause some changes to your text layouts that could affect the clarity of the message. Arial is a very common font that will probably be available to almost everyone.

   g) Use colors - Make sure you use contrasting colors for backgrounds and fonts. Overusing complex coloring such as gradients slow down the program.

   h) Maintain quality - Keep the quality of your graphics, videos and audio at a consistent level. The users must be informed beforehand regarding the type of files the presenter is going to use so that they may download it in advance. For example, if the presenter is going to show a video clip on Windows Media Player, the users must have it on their systems.

   i) Control text - Too many words on the screen can cause distraction. The students generally appreciated six to eight lines per screen.

Motivating Students to Work on their Assignments
Taking into consideration that many e-Learners hold full- or part-time jobs, the dual responsibilities of working and studying can prove to be a difficult juggling act. Further compounding this issue is parenthood. It is extremely difficult being a parent, employee and student all at the same time. Hence, what motivation can be strong enough to override such roles and to make students do their assignments?

Observational experience identifies the following motivating factors.

1. Make the assignment relevant to the e-learner's motive. Realizing that all e-learners have motives in pursuing further education, be it to upgrade one's knowledge or to further enhance promotion prospects, they would be most obliged to do assignments that are relevant to their motives. For example, a project executive who's an e-learner, would definitely find more inducement to do an assignment on "electronic project management skills" (which is relevant to his line-of-work and offers promotion prospects-from executive to managerial capacity), instead of an assignment bearing little significance to his/her motives. It is acknowledged that the tying up of assignments to individual motives can prove to be a difficult task, especially upon factoring in the diversity inherent in all e-learners for a particular course. One possible solution resides in the posting of assignments bearing general topics that can be related to one's working experience. For example, instead of requiring an essay on disaster recovery systems for a nuclear plant, the assignment topic can be rephrased as "Disaster recovery systems for your (the student's) work environment."

2. Make the study schedule/plan available early. A study schedule/plan with assignments that is given to the e-learners early in the semester motivates the e-learners to do their assignments. This is because the early availability of the plan enables them to allocate time from their busy schedule many months before the actual submission date for assignments. Since the deadlines for the assignments are available, the e-learner is able to complete the assignments by stages. Therefore, the chances of completing the assignments within the stipulated timeframe are much higher than assignments that are given at the eleventh hour.

3. Post the best student projects on the Internet. Posting excellent completed projects on the VOISS (UNITAR's Virtual Online Instructional Support System) for other student to learn and see was found to be a very strong motivational tool.

4. Acknowledge the receipt of a project. The lecturer should acknowledgement receipt of assignment sent via e-mail. This will provide assurance to the students that the lecturer has received their assignment. Any inquiry about the assignment should be answered quickly by the lecturer; therefore, students will not be left in the dark about doing the assignment. When a student submits an assignment or answers a question, the instructor should respond quickly, within 24 hours. A speedy response tells students their participation is valued, and that can be a source of great motivation. Lecturers should practice and encourage the students to send all assignments using e-mail although many lecturers still prefer to have a hardcopy assignment from students.

5. Provide feedback in a timely and constructive manner. In web-based courses, learners "demand more feedback; and the more feedback they receive, the more interaction they want" (Brown, 1998). A timely and constructive feedback is highly appreciated by all the students. Students' frustration was high in those cases where the result on the assignment was made known to them only at the end of the semester. Written comments on material returned were found helpful.

6. Meet students' expectations. Most of the students reported following lecturers' expectations. Lecturers should:

   a) provide students with clear grading criteria,

   b) remind students about upcoming assignments,

   c) provide examples of desired writing/assignments,

   d) provide resource ideas for completing assignments,

   e) assist students who are having problems (by e-mail, etc.) in completing the assignment,

   f) acknowledge receipt of assignment,

   g) return students' assignments with comments and grades, and

   h) contact students who have not completed assignments even after the assignment due date and remind them about their non-submission of assignment.

Conclusion
While students who join e-learning courses do so because of their own intrinsic motivation, a lecturer's role is crucial in maintaining and sustaining students' motivational level. Once your e-program is under way, what do you have to do to motivate learning? Well, you might think that it's enough to just make your courses compulsory and to monitor progress with a management system. You might think that learners working towards a recognized qualification are going to be motivated enough. But experience shows that many e-learners need more; they need support and encouragement from other human beings (Shepherd, 2000). E-learning faculty face a significant challenge in providing learners with an educational experience that is interactive, relevant, and flexible and which extends beyond the classroom.

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