Motivation:
**Motivating classes:
- high school physics
- undergraduate genetics
- undergraduate field ecology
- graduate microbiology
Like many others, courses that have motivated me have had ‘hands on’ and ‘real world’ components. Admittedly it is tough to beat mechanical physics in that realm. Can we drop things off a stadium in SWC? Also in some of these classes there’s a ‘wow’ factor. Not only a ‘wow’ that thing exploded into more bits than I thought possible, but also a ‘wow’ there are really cool things in the world. Microbiology is fascinating because of all the neat things that microbes can do and the insight into a whole world that exists that I didn’t know anything about before. Programming is neat because you can actually make your computer say ‘hello world!’.
Another thing motivational classes for me share is a very enthusiastic, relatable and clearly dedicated instructor, and these instructors were good storytellers. At the time, I wouldn’t have said that these instructors were telling stories every day, but essentially that’s what they were doing. They were presenting new material in a compelling way, but in a way that we’re used to absorbing information, and a way that we can put things into context. It made us want to learn more about the story, but also we felt like we were learning something valuable or exciting.
One of my undergraduate courses used the Socratic method and that was very motivating, because 1) you didn’t want to look unprepared and 2) you knew you would have the chance to contribute to the course. We were not passive learners. We were expected to be active in the learning process. We also got immediate feedback on whatever it was that we were learning.
Demotivating
Things that have been demotivating are instructors that assign too much or too difficult work without any potential for feedback during the process and instructors that don’t accurately gauge the class’s understanding and move on too quickly to new material. It’s very frustrating to have new things presented to you that you can’t possibly understand because you haven’t established the foundation that they’re being built on. That’s when you basically give up or just feel like an idiot the whole time. Neither is particularly empowering.
What this means for on-line courses
I, like others commented too, think it is harder to be motivating in an online setting. People do have different expectations when they sit at their computer than when they’re in a classroom.
I realized when I was writing about what is demotivating is that you want people to walk away from an online course (or really any course) feeling empowered. They have some new skill they can try out in an area that matters to them. They have some new skill or piece of information that is cool (the explosion equivalent).
I wonder if you can present online material in a story like format in videos. e.g. Today we’re going to learn about the bash shell. The name itself is kind of a computer joke because it’s a replacement for an earlier version of the shell, called the Bourne shell (no relation to the Bourne identity unfortunately) which wasn’t free. This was in 1989 and even then there were free software debates. So ‘bash’ stood forBourne-again shell, which is like Bourne the name and ‘born’, like born again. It also had a practical component because what it did was ‘bash’ together components of other shells. There will be other hilarious names like this throughout the course, so we’ll try to keep you informed along the way. Bonus points if you spot them before we mention them. Maybe you can even think of your own. OK, enough of the jokes, seriously being able to use the bash shell can change your life. You can access and move around files, automate processes, … (other important things). If you’re not afraid of the shell you can do almost anything. Once you’re comfortable with it, you really will not want to go back to a life on your computer without it .
note: I did have to consult Wikipedia about the bash name. I knew is was something like this, but didn’t actually know the story. Now I do and it’s a great story for parties!
Now the learner knows why they want to learn it and has learned a fun fact along the way. Then there will be the hands on component where they try out the bash skills that the instructor presents. Hopefully they’ll be excited about what they’ve learned and want to tell their friends about it that evening. People do like and listen to podcasts, including Science Friday and Radiolab that mainly teach you some interesting things.
I think one of the real problems with online courses is that they’re less scheduled. Life is a whirlwind and if something doesn’t have to be done at a particular time, it gets put aside or condensed (as I write this a day later than Greg asked for it). The question is how to get your course and material to be the priority. Assignments likely help, especially if they’re tied to material presented. But how does a student feel accountable for turning the assignment in? Is there a group counting on them? I agree with others that groups of random people is not much fun. Is it a game? Maybe there are 20 slightly different versions of the assignment and if done correctly each one outputs a different word, and when all 20 are in, you can see the sentence? OK, probably not exciting enough, but how would you feel if your word was missing? I think studies show that having a community helps the whole group learn, and you’re trying to create a community of people who never meet each other and are never in the same place at the same time. For that you need a shared purpose, but you don’t want everyone to have to count on each other.
Also, can you randomly just drop something off a stadium in a recording? :-)