Motivating students should be one of the concerns of any elearning course. This is important not just to help them complete the course. Motivating them will help improve the overall learning experience. It is what will make them eager to absorb the content that you are presenting in your course.
There are many tips to motivate your students but there are 5 important areas that you can concentrate on.
Attention
Start by getting their attention. Motivation begins with interest. You need to capture the attention of your audience because it is the doorway by which the desire to learn will come from. When you have their interest, you should be able to feed more fire into it they will inquire the details of your course. You can use words like “important,” “top rated,” etc. Apart from that, you can make the course exciting by adding visuals, games, multimedia elements and even humor. All of these should help make the elearning course more enjoyable.
Engagement
The next area that you need to tap into is engagement. Work on student engagement and that should help motivate them while going through the learning process. When you encourage them to engage in the lesson, they are not only on the receiving end, they are also inclined to input something. As they increase their input, they become more committed to the course and the learning curve. That commitment is usually attached to emotions. When your students become emotionally involved in the lesson, the more they would want to gain more from the course.
Confidence
Another area that will help motivate your students in the elearning course is their confidence. If you can make your students feel that they are capable of accomplishing something, that will increase their motivation as well. After all, nobody wants to waste their time and energy on something that they know they will fail at. If you boost the confidence of your students, it will make them more eager to learn and reach a guaranteed success. This can be done by creating positive expectations when you define the success they will get from the course. When their expectations are met, they will be more comfortable as they complete the course.
Satisfaction
When your students are satisfied with the elearning course, you can be sure that they will put in more effort into it. The best way to improve their level of satisfaction is by rewarding them with every effort that they will put into the learning process. This is where games can be of help. Not only will it help you make the course more enjoyable, you can also help increase their level of satisfaction. The more rewards they get, the more they will feel accomplished. As they feel the accomplishment, they will feel good about the course in general. That brings about an increase in motivation.
Interaction
The last area that you need to tap into is the social interaction in the course. This can be done by incorporating social learning strategies in your course. When you have interaction, it makes the learning process more involved. If the learners do not feel isolated, they are encouraged to give and receive feedback from their fellow learners. Set up activities that will help learners interact with each other. Collaborating will go along way when it comes to increasing the motivation of your students.
When you have successfully increased the motivation level of your students, it should also increase the effectiveness of your elearning course.
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