Oct. 20, 2014

CSE 591

Technologies for Online Learning Communities

Erin Walker

Motivation & Online Communities

Class Outline

Review of “Motivation” section so far.

Deeper look: What motivates people to participate in learning communities

Relevant socio-motivational constructs Ardichivili paper

Administrative matters

Activity

Class Outline

Review of “Motivation” section so far

Deeper look: What motivates people to participate in learning communities

Relevant socio-motivational constructs Ardichivili paper

Administrative matters

Activity

Kreijns, Kirschner, & Jochems (2003)

Taking a cognitive perspective on interaction is not enough to motivate people to engage.

Important to design environments to: Provide social contexts Increase social presence

Integrating LMS and Social Media

Social contexts: Filtering of task and non-task, adding chat, connections to social media, personal and professional spaces, common feeds and topic-specific feeds

Social presence: Adding chat, status updates, location sharing and events, push notifications, user statistics, displaying connections between users, profiles

Other: Sharing achievements, being able to friend and follow, like buttons, anonymous posting, reputation/skills

Raise several questions

Social contexts and social presence alone are inadequate to explain what’s going on.

Questions Why are social contexts effective? Why is it important to improve social

presence? What are the other social factors that

improve motivation?

Class Outline

Review of “Motivation” section so far

Deeper look: What motivates people to participate in learning communities

Relevant socio-motivational constructs Ardichivili paper

Administrative matters

Activity

Motivation

What are the kinds of things that motivate people to participate in online learning communities?

Murphy, P. K., & Alexander, P. A. (2000). A motivated exploration of motivation terminology. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25(1), 3-53.

Social goals

Motivation is socially influenced.

Dowson, M., & McInerney, D. M. (2004). The development and validation of the goal orientation and learning strategies survey (GOALS-S). Educational and Psychological Measurement, 64(2), 290-310.

Social goals

Social affiliation goal wanting to achieve to enhance sense of

belonging to a group and to maintain social relationships

Social approval goal wanting to achieve to gain the approval of

peers, teachers, and parents

Social concern goal wanting to achieve to be able to assist others

in their academic or personal development

Social goals

Social responsibility goal wanting to achieve to meet social role

obligations

Social status goal wanting to achieve to attain

wealth/position in school or later in life.

Social Aspects of Motivation

Motivation is socially influenced and socially constructed.

Järvelä, S., Volet, S., & Järvenoja, H. (2010). Research on motivation in collaborative learning: Moving beyond the cognitive–situative divide and combining individual and social processes. Educational psychologist, 45(1), 15-27.

Motivation as Socially Constructed

Affordances and constraints determine whether members engage.

Each group generates its own social dynamics.

Group motivation is emergent.

Alexandre Ardichivili

University of Minnesota

Professor in Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development

Interested in:HR Development

Organizational Learning

Knowledge Management

Why share knowledge?

Personal benefits

Community-related considerations

Normative considerations

Paper takes an organizational perspective on knowledge sharing, but more broadly relevant to participation in online learning communities.

Personal benefits

Status and career advancement

Emotional benefits

Intellectual benefits

Material gain

Community-related considerations

Establish ties with others

Build a strong community

Protect against external threats

Normative considerations

Shared values & vision (knowledge as public good)

Conformity

Reciprocity

What are barriers to sharing knowledge?

Interpersonal Fear of criticism, fear of being misleading

Procedural Don’t know how to share, don’t know what can be

shared

Technological Lack of aptitude, negative attitudes towards

technology

Cultural E.g., saving face, power distance

Quiz

Which of the following is true about knowledge sharing in virtual communities of practice?

Most individuals are motivated to share knowledge because they see personal immediate benefit from doing so.

Cultures with high power distance are more likely to engage in knowledge sharing practices.

People may not share knowledge because they don't understand why doing so is important.

People tend to share their thoughts and opinions even when they are not certain they are correct.

Knowledge sharing

How do you facilitate knowledge sharing?

Enablers of Knowledge Sharing

Organizational Culture Organizational culture should support

knowledge sharing

Trust Institutional, personal

Tools Technology design influences how

knowledge is shared

Relationship to Social Presence and Social Contexts

Surveyed motivators, barriers, and supports for knowledge sharing.

The ideas of improving social presence and providing social contexts are inadequate.

Missing piece: social capital

Social Capital

Social ties are a social resource called social capital.

Facilitates information exchange, knowledge sharing, and knowledge construction through continuous interaction, built on trust and maintained through shared understanding.

Social Capital

Structural dimension fundamental elements of the network

such as types of ties & organization of community

Content dimension types of norms, trust, shared

understanding, and other variables that hold people together

Benefits of social capital

Allows people to resolve collective problems more easily.

Makes interactions easy and enjoyable.

Preserve social norms & reduce delinquent behavior.

Facilitates cooperation and communication.

Facilitates the dissemination of information.

Increases commitment to the community.

How do you develop social capital in a group?

Connecting people.

Establishing trust.

Facilitating reciprocity.

Adopting common values and norms.

Maintaining shared understanding.

Maintaining cooperation.

Implications for the individual

Different individuals have different access to benefits provided by the social capital of a group.

Individuals may be motivated to Participate in groups with high social

capital Improve their ability to access resources

provided by social capital

Where are we at

Individuals are motivated by goals, incentive structures, their own interest, and their perceptions of themselves.

Some motivations are inherently social

Individuals participate in communities because of personal benefit, benefit to the community, or to comply with community norms.

Focus on creating communities with high social capital, high social presence, and social contexts.

Class Outline

Review of “Motivation” section so far.

Deeper look: What motivates people to participate in learning communities

Relevant socio-motivational constructs Ardichivili paper

Administrative matters

Activity

Feedback Survey

Link in the course schedule https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1CnBsT

vNWHGDFvPhqlKlGoMnSklcb-_dwlPCe_thaDc4/viewform

Anonymous – instructions after you submit for getting bonus credit.

You can have an impact on the direction of the course.

Discussion Activity #2

Any questions?

In-Class Activities

Participation credit for engaging in in-class activities.

Policy Write your names down for participating. If you can’t come to class, email me ahead

of time, and make it up. Can miss two without penalty.

Do not get someone to write your names down if you’re not in class.

Why not?

Moral perspective: Academic dishonesty

Practical perspective: Low penalty for missing class Easy to get caught cheating

Why not?

Principles of the class: Learning through participation Learning to be Self-directed learning

Community-centered perspective Reciprocity Mutual trust Mutual respect

Future Consequences

Any group caught in the future will have all their participation points revoked.

Class Outline

Review of “Motivation” section so far.

Deeper look: What motivates people to participate in learning communities

Relevant socio-motivational constructs Ardichivili paper

Administrative matters

Activities

Final Activity #1

Find one good and one bad example of an online learning community that encourages overall quantity of interaction.

Explain your answers by talking about how the features of each community influence interaction quantity.

Final Activity #2

Find one good and one bad example of an online learning community that supports the development of social capital.

Explain your answers by talking about how the features of each community influence interaction quantity.