Motivation is an important factor in education since it can impact both the learning and teaching processes. Therefore, the purpose of the activities scheduled for this week are to demonstrate how motivation (e.g., intrinsic and extrinsic) can impact the learning process. Moreover, the activities this week help to demonstrate how students are often motivated by different goals they establish throughout the learning process.
Assignment #1 Blog Debate
Learner Motivation & their Learning Environments: The first assignment you will complete this week is focused on how online learning environments impacts students’ motivation to learn. In particular, this activity will help you focus on different factors that may impact students’ levels of motivation to succeed in online or face-to-face learning environments.
Part 1:
§ Critically read the NY Times news article found at the following link: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/study-finds-that-online-education-beats-the-classroom While reading the article, reflect on the following questions:
1) Do you need to be more motivated to complete courses online or face-to-face?
2) How does a person's level of self-regulation impact their online learning success?
3) What other motivational factors impact students' online learning success? How are these factors different from face-to-face classroom settings?
4) What are the advantages and disadvantages of online learning environments? and
5) What are the advantages and disadvantages of face-to-face learning environments?
Select one of the following debate topics:
1) advantages of on-line learning environments,
2) disadvantages of on-line learning environments,
3) advantages of face-to-face learning environments, or
4) disadvantages of face-to-face learning environments,
Provide a blog posting that reflects the topic and position (pro/con) that you have chosen. Your post must include information from:
the assigned article,
textbook chapter,
personal experience,
another external/online resource that supports your position on the topic (e.g. website, blog, research article, news articles)
Complete your blog posting by 11:59 p.m. EST on Sunday, 09/26/10 .
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/study-finds-that-online-education-beats-the-classroom/
