Motivating
There are two main reasons why I may want to learn something: (1) understand a new concept (e.g., quantum theory) and (2) learn a new skill to do something with it (e.g., JavaScript). I think these two reasons for learning have different ways of motivating me. If I want to learn something for the sake of learning it, then I have found I learn best when the teacher has a deep understand of the material and can successfully explain the material through good analogies and clear answers to my questions. For example, I was excited to go to my Organic Chemistry 1 class because I knew that I was going to gain some insight about how molecules work and that I would understand it. It also helped that the teacher was enthusiastic, funny, and a fair grader.
On the other hand, if I want to learn something because I want to do something with it (I think most of the stuff we teach falls under this category), then it’s been motivating when I can quickly begin to see how I can actually apply it, by working on real-world problems or learn by doing. I can’t think of a course that has done this for me, but I can think of a book: CSS: The Missing Manual. I think the format of this book is how all technical books should be written: clear purpose of everything that was introduced, followed by an example that solved a real problem.
Demotivating
One of the most demotivating courses I’ve ever had was Organic Chemsitry 2, which I took the semester after my awesome Organic Chemistry 1 class. The professor emphasized memorization rather than understanding. It was the only course I ever dropped in my life. Another demotivating course was Operating Systems, whose assignments were to build on an in-house OS. But I didn’t feel the end-product would be useful, and too much of the canned OS was a black box, so I didn’t gain a deep understanding either.
Online
With respect to having real-world applications and giving a feeling that everything they learn has a practical purpose, I think this can definitely be done online. I personally think that what would help in achieving this is knowing who our audience is, so that we can more effectively give them real-world examples of why something is useful. I would be easily demotivated by an online course if it taught a bunch of random things without a clear purpose, leaving me without an idea of how to use them together to do something.