Home – Home – Jornals – Professional Education in the Modern World 2019 number 4

The study is devoted to the role of self-determination of personality in online education, which is relevant due to the availability of digital technologies, as well as the growing demand for distance e-learning. Online education is a popular way of spreading knowledge by leading universities around the world. Technological awareness, motivation and students’ personal choice are prerequisites for the successful implementation of e-learning. In order to promote the effectiveness of e-learning systems, the authors offer several recommendations of relevance to researchers and practitioners. The authors raise questions about how to integrate self-determination theory, which postulates the interconnection between motivation and a person's need for autonomy, into the structure of online courses. The authors note: motivation to learn can lead to many academic and socio-emotional improvements among students. In order to understand how student’s involvement is applied in distance education, you must first determine how online learners interpret involvement for themselves. In this qualitative study, twenty-eight graduate students were interviewed, which allowed the authors to get the students’ own idea about the participation in online courses required for distance education programs. Using the constructivist approach, the authors revealed how online learners determine their own participation in the online learning environment. With the help of the conducted research, it was found that graduate students define themselves in online courses through final works, communication with the teacher and fellow students. In addition, online learners mainly note the following stimulating factors in online courses: video lectures and discussion platforms. The study also identified certain motivations and a problem associated with online learning, which is determined by the reluctance of graduate students to be involved in online learning. The experience shared by graduate students leads the authors to the conclusion that effective teaching of online students requires interactive cooperation, taking into account the graduate students' own ideas about the involvement processes. The results of this study provide an opportunity to develop resources to improve web design and communication with online students on virtual learning platforms. The findings can be applied across disciplines to introduce practices that aim to increase student engagement and satisfaction in online educational programs.