Reading the web this morning I came across two interesting statements. The first was that online learning is not as good as “an inspiring teacher” but it was available 24 hours a day while the teacher was only available a few hours a week and had to be shared with other students during most of that time. Then I came across this Mother Jones post that says motivation is the critical difference between online and face to face education. Not motivation by the teacher, but the motivation provided by scheduled classes, assignments, tests, and so on. I just had the discussion with my son about “required” courses in college. We like what we “choose” to take and dislike (like less?) what we “have” to take. But we take it anyway, complete the assignments, perhaps (hopefully?) learn something in the process, and move on. When you know that not attending class means that your seat is empty and everyone will know it, you go to class, even if you don’t feel like it. But online, skipping class is a personal choice, and normally only the teacher knows it. Do we work on personal motivation or making online participation more public to improve this situation? Or both?