The learning context plays a large part in self-motivation when it comes to online courses
such as these, because there has to be a certain level of student interest in order to actively fulfill all of the course requirements. This is mainly because, as the article points out, that online courses and the lack of attendance in class make it easy for students to procrastinate the online courses due to the convenience of being able to complete the tasks at one’s own
leisure. However, if the course is of particular interest to the student, they are more likely to have the intrinsic motivation to want to put full effort into their assignments because they are engaged in the topic, instead of handing in the bare-minimal requirements during the crunch-time period. The motivated student above would be more likely to plan their assignment ahead, do more research into the topic that they are interested in, and to try to make sure that they fully comprehend the assignment as they go through the steps. In this
way, the importance of the context of the course can be related back to the ideas of personal attributes (internal self-motivation to do the assignments), as well as the self-directed learning process (the way one plans and monitors their learning throughout the assignment).
Because self-directed learning and online learning are so interrelated to one another, I have decided to conclude the main themes of this paper, as well as some of my personal opinions into a positive and negative chart showcasing some of the benefits and possible struggles of such programs. (Zoom in to the chart below and move it around to read the bubbles!)
Chart done on https://bubbl.us/