Term Paper: The End of a Colorful Rainbow

Last night, I was commenting to my new friends on Facebook (participating in these online courses has sparked some interest in social networking) and users have the ability to fill-out a brief "What's on your mind" segment. Now, normally I would have felt like this was an utter waste of time having people place random comments on the web. But, after my husband so graciously added a Facebook component to my Blackberry (I'm new to that family as of earlier this summer), it makes more sense why I would tell someone what's on my mind.

When I'm just roaming around on the streets doing my own thing, I get this pop-up from Facebook saying that somebody wants to say something to me. Then I get to say something back to them or tell everyone in the group exactly "what's on my mind"....
....So to make a long story short, last night I told them "Roslyn La'Toya Warren" is tired of writing this term paper and ready to go to bed!" Oh the joys of asynchronous communication!

Anyway,
The term paper, though very time consuming, was very interesting. After not having a clue as to what I wanted to write on relative to technology or distance education issues, I decided to choose a topic near and dear to me-Motivation. I have frequently worked with students in my current profession as a Licensed Professional Counselor and so this topic is of interest because there is so much literature that suggests how you can "motivate" someone to decrease their depressive symptoms, etc. But, I hadn't really thought about a connection to online learning or a theory behind motivation in online learning. So, it was very fulfilling to see that this research actually exists and I must mention that it is worth continuing my research in future courses.

My term paper is called "Learner Motivation in Online Learning Environments". I refer frequently to John Keller's ARCS model for motivational design (attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction) and also looked at 2 research studies that used specific technology tools to increase motivation. Lastly, I wanted to discuss 3 questions that I feel are relevant to assessing motivation in students:

1) What motivates learners in some online learning environments versus others?
2) Are learners more motivated to participate in learning dependent upon the instructional tool that is used?
3) How can instructional designers promote an increased motivation to learn in online learning environments?

Finally, I thought that I would provide the summary of my term paper as a matter of critical thought.

"Students’ participation in online learning environments is not going to go away due to the flexibility and innovation that online learning provides. Moreover, as these learners continue to express their satisfaction or dissatisfaction of one OLE over another, the pressures to provide more meaningful online learning programs will continue to grow. As such, educators and instructional designers should work together to ensure that the old course materials that were once relevant in traditional environments are converted into the appropriate technology mediums, and not the other way around, in efforts to increase student motivation and retention. This means that instead of conforming to the popular views that are centered on technology-integration into classroom environments, educators should focus on curriculum-integration into technology environments. This attitudinal shift is one way that professionals can embrace online learning." Artifact: Term Paper


A colorful rainbow indeed!
Roslyn Warren