How the best programs use a virtuous cycle to spark & sustain intrinsic motivation in learning online

The internet has certainly changed the way I go about learning. Online learning is like any other habit (reading, writing, exercising). The more I learn online, the more I want to learn online.

Over the last 24 months, I’ve had the good fortune to experience (and complete) some of the best (and longest) online learning programs out there. And honestly whatever people may say about the effectiveness of online learning, I can put my hand to my heart with confidence and say that each and every program really has made a deep impact on me. I would go as far as to say that some of these have been way more impactful (and useful) than my in person degrees / diplomas.

None of these programs have had to ‘push’ me to learn or use any sort of gamification (points, badges, leaderboards) for stimulation. In fact I’ve realized that the crux of being a successful ‘online learner’ has really boiled down to managing 1 key ability: sparking and sustaining intrinsic motivation (the same boring and unpredictable thing one has to deal with when going to the gym, eating healthy or waking up early in the morning). 

In this essay, I’ve distilled my learnings on how the best online learning programs spark and sustain intrinsic motivation among learners.

Inspiration

Inspiration is a uniquely human experience and a huge source of it in online learning comes from the course instructor / faculty. In all of my programs, the people who were teaching online were self built role models who were actively pushing the boundaries in their categories. They were people who were hands-on and had been there, done that. Their credibility did not come from academic degrees, but from their lived and practiced achievements. They fused their credibility with vulnerability by sharing real and relatable examples of their failures and successes in live workshops and mentoring sessions. They used wonder, beauty and stories to make the online course come alive. As a learner, your motivation spikes as you are in awe of their experiences and feel a strong urge to follow in their path.

The Community College Course was hosted by Greg Isenberg . He’s an absolute legend having built a career around creating, scaling and selling multiple internet communities.

Structured Content

The best programs I’ve attended have made a deliberate effort in making the content razor sharp, sticky and actionable. Content is not created just for its own sake, but is used as a way to package ideas such that there is an explosive impact on how these ideas resonate with learners. The best programs break down all the content into frameworks, metaphors and analogies, and bring them to life using memorable design and visuals. The content flows through the online learning journey via pre / post reads on email, live session decks and videos. When you see a piece of content in these programs, your motivation spikes and you almost always want to take a screenshot or click the save later button, because the content sparks an aha moment where you know you will become smarter by using it in your day to day work. However, a lot of online learning programs make the mistake of focusing only on the content. While content is important, it is just one of the many things that makes an online program successful.

Here’s an example of structured content. The POP writing framework created by David Perell in his online writing course called ‘Write of Passage’. This course changed my life!

Layered Practice

In the best online programs, the philosophy of learning is a fusion of ‘learn to do’ and ‘do to learn’. These programs integrate ‘doing’ as a core part of the learning experience. There are no assessments with the all familiar (and boring) multiple choice type questions. Instead, prompts with carefully designed templates (called projects, drills, problems even) are positioned as consistent rituals in the learning journey (Wednesday story, Friday essay, Tuesday opportunity). These rituals are carefully designed to help learners form a ‘habit of doing’. There is a very strong connection between content and templates in order to simplify the transfer of learning. As a learner, your motivation spikes when you are able to use the templates to consistently put the learning into practice and build a strong portfolio filled with proof of work. This connects back to a core motivation theory of seeing progress and building mastery. 

An example of how templates can be used for layered practice. The ABCDE template in Dickie Bush’s course called ‘Ship 30 for 30’.

Actionable Peer Feedback

As a learner, there is no greater feeling (and therefore a spike of motivation) than when you get actionable feedback from your cohort on the layered practice templates. For the person giving the feedback, not only is it another way to transfer learning from the content, it’s also a brilliant way to see how the content can get used in a different context (based on what the person seeking feedback has created). Not many programs are able to integrate feedback into the learning journey, but to me this is the hidden secret to a great online learning experience. I’ve experienced giving / receiving feedback to be much easier when dealing with a topic of common interest and knowledge. In my programs, gamers were giving each other feedback, energy enthusiasts were giving each other feedback, educators (me included) were giving each other feedback. A matchmaking tool that leverages data from pre-filled learner profiles (background, interests, future goals) can easily be used to prompt learners for feedback during the learning journey. Further, to make the feedback actionable and not generic, learners can use predefined feedback guides that are created based on the relevant content framework and the type of layered practice template for which the feedback needs to happen. 

An example of how frameworks / templates can be used to drive actionable feedback. The CRIBS framework as part of David Perell’s ‘Write of Passage’

Connection & Community 

Giving and receiving feedback on each other’s work leads to a very strong feeling of connection. As a learner, you feel important because someone out there cares about your work, and equally, someone out there cares about what you think about their work! A powerful motivation spike. You learn so much more about your fellow learners making friends and having deeper conversations that transcend the boundaries of the course material. This leads to a sense of community and belonging (with flooded zoom chats and humor filled discussions). The cycle of motivation restarts as you get inspired by the achievement and stories of your fellow learners - going back to experiencing something uniquely human.

The online community workspace in the course Building a Second Brain (BASB) as well as the in person community event in the Stanford LEAD program.