Motivation Activities For Online Classes

Students can lack motivation to stay engaged in their online classes. This is due to several factors: lack of face-to-face interaction, the difficulty in expressing emotional responses and technical issues.

Students must feel that they have been treated fairly in order to be motivated to continue learning. This can be achieved through the use of rewards, positive feedback and gamification.

1. Virtual Show and Tell

Students can use virtual Show and Tell to share things with classmates that have special meaning, such as favorite books, toys, or pet animals. This fun activity can be a great way to build a sense of community in an online classroom and help students get to know one another better.

Another fun icebreaker or team bonding game to play in a virtual class is Who Da Baby? This game is perfect for kids and adults alike. Start the game by asking each player to send you a baby photo (ideally, one from around 2 or 3 years old, as babies can’t change their appearance much) over a video conferencing platform like Zoom(tm). Each player then makes a list of possible guesses and teammates try to spot the person in the photos. The person who spots their friend wins the round and can then go on to choose a new photo for the next round.

You can also encourage students to showcase their creativity and knowledge by implementing motivational challenges or contests in their online courses. Students can participate in innovation competitions or design prototypes to develop solutions for real-world problems, promoting problem-solving skills and encouraging a growth mindset. They can also take part in group projects or collaborative challenges, promoting healthy teamwork and collaboration. You can even celebrate student achievements by providing recognition through peer voting or evaluation, encouraging a sense of accomplishment in the learning environment.

2. Virtual Mannequin Challenge

Online courses are a great option for students looking to pursue a college degree, but they can also be challenging without the guidance of a professor in a classroom. Without the visual and verbal queues that faculty rely on in-person, it can be hard for students to stay engaged.

To help combat this, instructors can use various motivational challenges and contests to keep their students interested and engaged. These activities can include academic competitions such as quizzes or debates that foster a sense of achievement and community in online education.

Another way to boost student engagement is by connecting learning to fun activities like the Mannequin Challenge. This meme has taken over social media, with everyone from A-list celebrities to high school students participating. Even a sports team has joined in, with the Pittsburgh Steelers posing on their practice field in a mannequin challenge.

These videos are not only entertaining, but they can also be a great motivator for students to work hard and achieve success in their studies. While there is no one-size-fits-all formula to motivating online students, teachers can incorporate a variety of different activities into their classes that will help their students stay engaged and motivated throughout the course. NGSCHOOLBOARD explores 20 exciting motivational activities for online classes that will ignite students’ interest and excitement in their learning journey.

3. Brainstorming Game

Students can participate in group brainstorming online and have fun with these creative exercises. This game requires minimal preparation and is great for when the class has a bit of extra time. Basically, one student says a word and the next person must say a word that starts with the last letter of the previous word. This continues until all students have offered at least one word.

This technique is a bit more sophisticated than the traditional idea-sharing method but it can have a huge impact on creativity. This is because it gets participants out of their own head and into someone else’s head. For example, asking how a celebrity or a famous historical figure would approach the issue can be an excellent way to access new perspectives and ideas.

Another great brainstorming technique is to have participants wear a hat. For example, you can ask participants to think of solutions to a problem as though they are an inventor, lawyer or athlete. By putting on different hats, it helps participants see the problem from multiple angles and come up with unique ways to tackle the issue.

Another great way to get people sharing ideas is to use a variation on the popular desert storm exercise. You can write a list of problem statements (e.g., ‘If you were stuck on a desert island, what 3 things would you bring?’) on a whiteboard. Then create five columns labeled -2, -1, neutral, +2, and +3. Have people take turns moving the notes to reflect their preferred solutions. When all the notes have been moved, discuss which solutions were most popular.

4. Name, Animal, Place and Thing

Whether they are taking classes online or in person, students can often feel demotivated when they have to work on tedious or difficult assignments. However, there are a variety of motivational activities that can help students stay on task and focused, such as group discussions, interactive games, video tours and presentations, and visual learning aids like infographics.

One of the most effective motivational activities for online learning is to encourage positive thinking. Studies have shown that being positive can improve your skill set, help you learn and even change the structure of your brain.

For example, you can ask your students to write an autobiographical narrative on a special item in their lives that brings them comfort or happiness. Alternatively, you can have them create a vision board to display in their study area that reflects the long-term goals they want to achieve, such as getting a promotion at work or starting a new career.

You can also use virtual classroom games to motivate students, such as the popular Would You Rather icebreaker. Another online classroom game that is good for getting students to talk and interact with each other is Desert Island Intelligence, which simulates a natural disaster that strands eight people representing different intelligences on an isolated island. In order to survive, they must vote one of the characters off each round until only the most intelligent are left.