Challenges of Motivating Students in Online Learning Platforms: An Analysis Through the Eyes of Teachers

Introduction

Quality education is a primary necessity for improving a nation because it enables individuals to realize their potential and arrive at self-realization (Nurrohim, 2020). There are three fundamental elements of education. These are teachers, students, and the learning environment. The third element, the learning environment, has become technologically aided instruction. Sudden changes experienced during the pandemic have made transit to an online learning environment unavoidable. It was a radical change for teachers and students alike, and almost overnight, online tools and platforms have come to the fore in education. Demand for the use of technology has increased with the Covid19 pandemic; teachers and students have found themselves in a challenging and stressful education process (Atsani, 2020). Approximately 14 million students and one million teachers in Turkey had to be part of this process and faced various difficulties. In this challenging process, students tried to be motivated through technology-aided applications. Turkish teachers also shouldered essential responsibilities (Budak & Korkmaz, 2020) because students, who were not psychologically ready for online teaching, started to refuse to participate in the teaching and education process, thinking that it was a waste of time (Fishbane & Tomer, 2020; Gölpek Sarı, 2021; Hoffman, 2020). At the same time, students having difficulty accessing computers or proper internet connections hindered their learning through online teaching; thus, their education could not have an uninterrupted continuity (Tekedere et al., 2022). These issues resulted in students' generalized discontent throughout online learning (Cabansag et al., 2020). It is known that online learning, which is realized through rich learning materials, provides experience in digital learning programs independent of time and place (Firman & Rahayu, 2020). It is thought that using computer technologies should increase the participation of both teachers and students (Hidayat & Noeraida, 2020). Moreover, the fact that online learning promotes individual learning is another advantage. However, it is noted in the literature that there are specific problems attached to online learning alongside its benefits (Sadikin & Hamidah, 2020). The use of technology is specifically cited as a fundamental problem in online learning (Simamora, 2020). In other words, the fact that access to the internet and technologically-aided tools are expensive is used inadequately by teachers and students (Demir et al., 2022). Moreover, there is limited contact and sharing of information and ideas between students as they cannot directly communicate in an online environment, which is a disadvantage. In this regard, it is evident that students have difficulty socializing in online learning environments (Tanhan & Özok, 2020). Consequently, all these problems cause decreased motivation in class students (Britt, 2006; Zhong, 2020).