The effective integration of online technology in education is reliant upon understanding the cognitive motivations inherent to the learning experience. “Learning is an active, constructive process that is heavily influenced by an individual’s existing knowledge and beliefs and is situated in particular contexts” (Borko & Putnam, 1996, as cited in, Starkey, 2012, p. 68). I have experienced this in my own online learning; effective technology must consider the learning outcomes and engage learners with an “associative, constructive, and situative” design (Beetham & Sharpe, 2019, p. 33). A student-centred, holistic approach in instructional design facilitates the student’s motivation by considering the context of the learning, and the motivations of the individual learner (Starkey, 2012, p. 69).

 

My students have varying motivations and needs for their education. I find that technology in education stimulates the student’s intrinsic motivators through enabling the students “locus of control”, providing a learning experience that is interactive, innovative, and engaging. The student’s extrinsic motivators are also enhanced by influencing “learning behaviours” as they pursue an end goal in the activities (Starkey, 2012, p. 69). Effective technological learning activities construct a learner viewpoint of how they perceive themselves in the learning process; they are engaging in a collaborative and cognitive fashion and developing information retrieval (Hartsell, 2006, p. 55).

I use constructivist strategies, engaging resources, diversity of media and visuals, gamification, and “advance organisers” to stimulate the student’s motivation to learn. When these are paired with careful curriculum design, formative and summative learning activities scaffold and guide the students through the tasks (Starkey, 2012, p. 92). Online learning activities should encompass diverse learning styles, adopt a learner-centred approach, enable an ease of access, and facilitate reflections through blogs and portfolios (Beetham & Sharpe, 2019, p. 39). Technology-based learning activities embrace pedagogical theories and I use them as a base to explore the interplay between learning and motivation, guiding the students through new conceptual and cognitive frameworks (Huang et al., 2019, p. 50).

 

References.

Beetham, H., & Sharpe, R. (Eds.). (2019). Rethinking Pedagogy for a Digital Age: Principles and Practices
of Design (3rd ed.). Routledge.. https://doi-org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/10.4324/9781351252805

Hartsell, T. (2006). Learning theories and technology: practical applications. International Journal of
Information and Communication Technology Education (IJICTE), 2(1), 53-
64.http://doi.org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/10.4018/jicte.2006010105

Huang R., Spector J.M., Yang J. (2019) Linking learning objectives, pedagogies, and technologies. in educational            technology. Lecture Notes in Educational Technology. Springer. https://doi-
org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/10.1007/978- 981-13-6643-7_3

Starkey, L. (2012). Teaching and learning in the digital age. Taylor & Francis Group.                       https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csuau/reader.action?docID=987927