Leveraging Multitasking Opportunities to Increase Motivation and Engagement in Online Classrooms: An Action Research Case Study

Assessing Motivation, Social Presence, And Instructor Immediacy

We suggest that assessing student motivational levels early in the semester can be a strong predictor of their success in a course, regardless if it is taught face-to-face or online (Baynton, 1992; Cavanaugh, 2003; Coggins, 1988; Gunter, 2007; Miltiadou, 2000). We have found through our own research and our review of long-standing practices reported in the literature that two practices appear to have the most significant positive impact on motivation, regardless of modality: social presence and teacher immediacy (Gunawardena & Zittle, 1997, authors’ names removed, 2007; Rath, 2012). Students need to know that their presence in the class matters and that their instructor and peers recognize their standing and contributions to the intellectual discussions. We further suggest that, while studies that assess the relative importance of the demand for social presence and instructor immediacy in online learning environments are somewhat incomplete, the former appears to be the more significant need of the two.