Student Strategies for Staying Motivated Online. We’ll Focus on One Student Strategy – “Self-efficacy”

Student strategies for staying motivated online are based on a process that students go through in an online course and form a pathway that students follow. This process begins with a student’s awareness of self, situation, and consequences; continues to self-efficacy; goes on to a purpose or goal; and is completed as the student gains rewards after achieving the goal. The process is cyclical as the student continues to take new online courses. Instructors can incorporate effective and efficient design strategies, by incorporating these student strategies into the online course.

Self-efficacy
In our study findings, self-efficacy was an important student strategy. Self-efficacy was the conviction of a student’s value and capability to organize and put into action what was necessary to move ahead successfully in an online course and complete that course. Self-efficacy was determined by the way students thought, felt, and behaved in the online environment. Motivation was the reason for the desire to accomplish something. One participant in our study described her feeling of self-efficacy and strategies to stay motivated in accomplishing the online coursework in this way:

“As a nontraditional student, my main motivating factors are self-determination [cognitive] and positive thinking [psychological]. Before the course begins, I access the syllabus and identify expectations and learning outcomes. If possible I start working on assignments ahead of time [behavioral]. I try not to allow my assignments [to] pile up on me [psychological]. To keep up with group discussions, I check in anytime I am in front of a computer [behavioral], I don't have to respond each of these times if I need more time to process my thoughts [cognitive].”

In this instance, self-efficacy is the student’s belief to put into action the goals to complete the online course. By using self-determination and positive thinking as the reason and desire to complete the course, the student then lays out the strategies to accomplish that goal: access the syllabus, identify expectations and learning outcomes, start working on assignments, and so on. Self-efficacy and motivation played an important role in this student’s perceptions. For more information on the other student strategies see:

Reference

Lehman, R. M. & Conceição, S. C. O (2014.) Motivating and Retaining Online Students: Research-Based Strategies That Work, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Next Week: Support Strategies for Staying Motivated Online. We’ll Focus on One Support Strategy – “Institutional.”