Exploring the factors making online learning attractive and enjoyable

Abstract

The pandemic forced the universities to go online and brought in front the online lectures as focal activities. A lot of effort has been put to move the teaching and learning resources on the online platform which became the main interaction space between students and between students and teachers. An exclusive online learning environment has both benefits and disadvantages, especially as regards the students' engagement with the online lectures. Maintaining students' interest is difficult and depends on several factors. The purpose of the paper is to explore the factors that make online learning attractive and enjoyable. A formatively measured model having as focal construct the intrinsic motivation has been tested on a sample of 354 Romanian university students. The results highlight the students' need for self-presentation and show that social learning features are key factors that make online learning attractive and enjoyable.