Motivating students in an online course

To ensure students feel autonomous in an online course, we first must make sure they see the value of their learning in our course. One important way to do this is by creating a course description that reminds them of the value of the course to their lives. For example, if you are teaching a biology course, you might help students grasp the many ways that your course can help students make life-impacting healthy decisions for themselves and for their loved ones. 

A sense of autonomy is also increased when we invite students to share with us or with classmates why they want to take our course. In an asynchronous class, you can ask students to share their ideas in a discussion board with peers. In a synchronous class, students can work in breakout rooms and share ideas after a few minutes of discussion about how the course can help them in their academic life, personal life, and in their future career.

A second way that we can design autonomy into our online courses is to give students choices.  This means we can design assignments that allow students to decide how they will respond within supportive parameters. For example, a weekly journal assignment in an online communications course can require students to use a theory of communication to analyze a communication situation that they select from their own recent experiences. 

Another way to think about autonomy is in relation to activities such as discussions. It is valuable to allow all individual students time to think independently and express their own ideas before hearing from others. In an asynchronous class discussion, autonomy can be structured into a discussion board activity by requiring individual students to post their own ideas first and defend them before they start to sift through others’ ideas. Similarly, in a synchronous course, individual students can express their ideas through a poll or through chat before working with peers in a breakout room. 

Students also benefit greatly from making choices about how they will structure and manage their work. In an online course, students have more to navigate than in a face-to-face course. Early in your course, invite them to explore the syllabus, assignments, and Brightspace site. Ask students to analyze the work ahead of them and to describe what will challenge them, what questions they have about the course and assignments, and what resources and strategies they will use. Inviting students into a discussion that is overtly focused on “how to do well in an online course” gives them the autonomy to make decisions about how they will use what they already know to navigate their online learning experience. This discussion should be structured well for them, so that they are writing down their ideas and then sharing them asynchronously or synchronously with one another. 

Finally, a word of caution: when instructors think about student choice, they often assume this means that students should be able to choose from a wide range of options in relation to how they demonstrate their learning on assignments. For example, an instructor in a biology course might invite students to present their research on genetic disorders as a poster, video, poem, traditional paper, or piece of visual art. When we give students these kinds of choices, we unwittingly create unnecessary complications for them: these different assignment formats require skills that are so divergent (and likely so unrelated to our course goals) that students will not be prepared to suceed. For example, it’s unlikely that a course on genetic disorders is helping students develop the graphic design skills they need to produce a poster!  Encouraging students to choose from such a wide range of formats and activities can also create difficulties for us because it is hard to fairly and objectively assess such different products. For these reasons, it is ultimately more useful to give students choices in their assignments that allow them to personalize the focus of their work but that ask them all to produce the same kind of work with the support of detailed assignment descriptions. 

To ensure that students feel competent in an online course, we must design a course to include a set of summative assessments (the big assessments that sum up learning at key points in the course) that lead students through learning toward our course goals. Assessments should work together so that students build on their work from one assessment to the next, meaning that they use what they learn in the first assessment to complete subsequent assessments. An assessment plan that is structured in this way should include between 3 and 5 assessments because students need to be able to demonstrate their learning several times in a course. 

Assessments that are iterative or that build toward a larger project in steps help students track their own development because each attempt gives them clear information on where they are developing and where they still need to put in work. This kind of assessment design builds student competence. In online courses, this kind of iterative, step-wise assessment plan is especially important. If our students only have a midterm and a final that bear little relation to one another, these high-stakes assessments will make students feel uncertain of their abilities from the start of the course, and they may fail to reach out for support because of a perceived distance from the course and their instructor.

Another key part of a well-structured, competence-building course is a formative assessment plan that helps students develop their skills and abilities. Formative assessments are the frequent, low stakes activities and assignments that students do to practice the kinds of work that summative assessments target. Discussion board challenges, individual homework, activities in breakout rooms—these are key moments of practice for students that help them see if they are making sense of big course concepts and applying them in ways that prepare them for their higher-stakes assessments. Make sure that your formative assessments lead to your summative assessments. 

In addition, students will feel more competent when this work is predictable from week to week. Each week in an online course should be structured the same way: when students know that a case study should be analyzed with other students through a discussion board (or in breakout rooms) on Wednesdays and that a small assignment is due on Fridays, they can plan their week ahead of time and make time for the required work. This predictability is a key source of a sense of competence for students. 

When students see that we have designed a series of summative and formative assessments that will lead them to develop in meaningful ways in our courses, they feel confident that they can develop competence, and their motivation increases. However, they are unlikely to recognize or make sense of this plan if we don’t clearly communicate it to them, especially in an online course. How can we ensure that students understand our plan and see us as trustworthy guides for their learning? There are several ways we can do this.

First, be sure to communicate your summative assessment plan clearly to students. You can create a map that shows students graphically how assignments are connected and how skills build through these assignments. This is something you can share through a welcome letter or welcome video, and this learning map can also be part of your syllabus. 

Second, communicate the rhythm of your course clearly to students. When we meet students in person, the class meeting structure and rhythm of weekly work is often very visible to them, but when we teach online, we need to communicate more explicitly. Create a weekly work plan that is predictable and make that plan available to students both before the semester begins (in your welcome email or video) and in each module of the course. When students see how to pattern their work during the week, they can more easily carve out the time they need and believe that they can manage that work.

Third, be sure that you remind students each week of the work that is coming up, the feedback you will provide, and how this week is connected to upcoming experiences in the course. As students grasp the value and structure of the work that they are doing, autonomy and competence begin to work together to motivate them to try their best and engage in the meaningful, well-designed practice we have planned.

Whether you are teaching synchronously or asynchronously, a key way to ensure students feel connected to you and to each other is to reach out before the semester starts with a welcome letter that gets them interested in and prepared for your course. This is a warm, personal contact that acts as an invitation to join your community. Crafting a welcome letter also involves asking students questions in order to begin the first meaningful exchange of the semester. 

You can also help create a sense of community by having students post an introductory video where they share their interest in and knowledge about the course, making a personal connection to the content and to one another. 

There are many other strategies you can use to help students feel connected to each other and to you, both in asynchronous and in synchronous courses.

One important way to help students feel connected in an online course is to have them work together in small groups. This is particularly important in asynchronous courses, which can be isolating for students. Consider creating permanent groups of five to six students. Create these groups in a transparent way, distributing experiences and perspectives that build group diversity. For example, you might create groups that are heterogenous based on year at the University or diverse majors. Students will develop deeper relationships and can have more meaningful conversations and exchanges with this smaller group. 

When students do work together in their groups, make it truly meaningful. Rather than asking students to simply write something in relation to course readings, ask students to tackle a meaningful problem and make a decision about it. Consider renaming this work so that it isn’t a “discussion board forum,” but rather a “Global Health Challenge,” a “Digital Forensics Case,” or a “Historians Circle.” Ask students to respond to one another’s initial post in a meaningful way, such as finding a group member whose ideas conflict with their own and either convincing the other student of their position or rethinking their original position. If it is feasible for students and it helps facilitate their learning, you can also suggest that group members in asynchronous courses meet with each other virtually or in person. Finally, in the first week of the class, have groups develop community expectations that will help them work together effectively and feel connected to each other. 

You also need to be a real presence in the course. There are many ways to help students see who you are, that you care about their learning, and that you are there with them, monitoring and responding to their emerging thinking. Students should hear from you through short videos twice during the week: a kick-off video for each week helps guide them into and through the work of the week and a feedback video toward the end of the week that provides them with global feedback about their conversations, quiz results, short papers, or other assignments. When students see you in a real setting, hear your voice, and hear you occasionally mention the names of students who have crafted a particularly helpful post or solved a problem in a novel way, they feel that they are really in a course with you, rather than working in isolation. 

The guidance you provide at the beginning of the week with a short video should be echoed with a weekly guide to the work students will do. Students need to “hear” your voice throughout their interactions with your course, so simply creating a module in the LMS with no guidance is not an effective way to keep students connected to you and to the course. No matter how large the class is, you can require students to visit your virtual office hours individually or in small groups. Do this early in the semester. Give students some guidance about what to expect at office hours or have them prepare a couple of questions about the syllabus and first assignment so that they feel confident when they meet you. Seeing you and speaking with you will help them see you as a real person who is anticipating their work and their success in the course. 

One way to help students feel connected to each other and to you is to encourage them to use their cameras in synchronous class meetings. In your welcome letter, help students understand the value of having their cameras on. Make a case for using cameras as a key to learning and connectedness rather than a way to take attendance or make sure students are paying attention. Devote some time in the first week of class to having students co-create community expectations with you. Have them work first in breakout rooms to develop ideas and then share and workshop those ideas with the whole class, coming to agreement on shared norms and expectations. Often students themselves will discuss the value of having cameras on or help you understand when they can't and why that is.

Breakout rooms are a valuable way to help students feel connected to each other because the discussion is more accessible to them and they are more likely to share ideas in small groups. It can be very helpful for students to work together in the same small groups throughout the semester: they will get to know one another and have a stronger sense of community. Create groups in a transparent way, distributing experiences and perspectives that build group diversity. For example, you might create groups that are heterogenous based on year at the University or diverse majors. 

While students may see and hear you in a synchronous course, virtual meetings don’t necessarily convey your presence as a supportive and caring instructor. One simple step you can take during class meetings is to use students’ names to personalize what can feel like a rather impersonal class setting. No matter how large the class is, you can require students to visit your virtual office hours individually or in small groups. Do this early in the semester. Give students some guidance about what to expect at office hours or have them prepare a couple of questions about the syllabus and first assignment so that they feel confident when they meet you. Seeing you and speaking with you in this less formal setting will help them see you as a real person who is anticipating their work and their success in the course. 

Whether you are teaching asynchronously or synchronously, try to remember that your online students are taking many courses, often working, and also trying to navigate other aspects of their lives outside of school. Overloading students with a lot of reading is a temptation for instructors who feel distanced from their students; when we don’t see our students in person, we can forget that they are real people with limits on their energy and time. When students see us as taskmasters, they are much less like likely to use as a resources to support their learning. 

As you choose content, consider choosing the important content that students need to do the work of the course. We want students to feel connected to the readings they do and the lectures they watch. Less can be more! Overworking students sends the message that your course is about testing their limits. You should be sending them the message that your course is your attempt to work with them as they take on the challenges of your discipline, not your attempt to challenge them in excessive and unproductive ways.

Another powerful tool to create connections to your students and to help them connect more fully to their learning is the use of early semester surveys. This is a service CATLOE provides which allows your students to anonymously and confidentially share their experiences in your course early enough for you to use this information to make small and meaningful changes in your online course. Using an early semester survey not only helps connect students more fully to you, it also gives them more autonomy and choice as learners, strengthening their self-determination to learn and helping you have a more positive experience in your online course.