Motivation Cultivation

February 8, 2021

Cultivating Student Motivation

This past Friday, Clemson Online (CO) hosted the first First Friday Coffee & Conversations meeting of the Spring semester. On the first Friday of every month, we bring together instructors and CO staff to have a relaxed conversation about teaching, learning, and technology. February’s meeting was special, as it featured a panel of seven students from a variety of majors and backgrounds to discuss how to stay motivated and engaged during this unusual time at college.

Today, we’ll focus on one particular way of maintaining motivation, as mentioned by the panel: group work. This may sound surprising, as group work often has a bad reputation, whether it is uncooperative group members or the challenges of agreeing on a project topic. However, several students on our panel observed that if they work together in the same group for the entire semester, then it was easier and more productive. This was because they got more time to get to know their peers, as well as the opportunity to plan out responsibilities and other aspects of a project, whether the project itself lasts the whole semester, or whether it was just weekly homework assignments.

Students also discussed the benefits of having grading rubrics for group assignments, along with detailed feedback from professors throughout the semester. These were all ways that faculty could help students stay engaged and motivated, even during a challenging semester such as this one.

If you’ve got questions about setting up Groups in Canvas, how to use Canvas rubrics, or about how to increase student engagement online, contact us at Clemson Online anytime.