The Importance of Motivation in Online Learning

Some people say that the hardest step in studying is to get started. But nowadays most of the student learning online away from their teacher and their friends. This makes student have to learn by their self, and that’s why they need motivation. We are social human beings, so it’s hard to get motivated when you are alone. We can get motivation from ourselves, the closest people, and of course in today's modern era, that is internet access. In online learning, motivation is needed as an effort to increase achievement in learning. There are several factors that can motivate students in learning, that is personal factors, internal factors, and external factors.

Motivation can influence what we learn, how we learn, and when we choose to learn (Schunk & Usher, 2012). Motivation is a reason that encourages someone to do an activity to achieve certain goals. To achieve good results in learning, the individual must be able to encourage himself to have an interest in learning. We can do several things to motivate ourselves in learning online. We can start by making a regular study schedule, a regular schedule will make us more focused and organized. Understand your methods and ways of learning, it will make it easy for you to study. Next, write down the hardpoints on the sticky note to make it easier to remember. Then make a target so you can see what improvements or achievements you have got. After that, give yourself an award so that you are more enthusiastic in learning.

Motivation does not only come from ourselves, the closest people can also make us motivated in learning. However the role of parents is very important, parents can provide support, encouragement, and supervision while their children studying. In addition, teachers are also one of the biggest motivators for their students, such as creating diverse and fun learning methods and activities, making students active in learning, providing propositional tasks, creating a conducive classroom atmosphere, and rewarding students. Besides that, peer support can also make us motivated, such as studying in groups. It can make it easier and make us enthusiastic about learning.

To do online learning, of course we need supporting facilities. Complete facilities make us more motivated to learn, such as mobile phones, laptops, and internet access. In learning online, internet access is the biggest support to help us learn. Although if it is difficult for us to get internet access, there are other supports to increase our interest in learning, that is through television and radio. As has been done by the government recently, so that remote area can still get learning opportunities.