STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION AND INTERACTION BASED ON LOCAL CULTURE IN ONLINE LEARNING

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze students’ learning motivations and their interactions and collaborations in a virtual learning environment based on local culture at Universitas Terbuka. This study used a qualitative method with interviews from students with different cultural backgrounds in Indonesia. The findings indicated that motivation played an important role in participating in online learning. The cultural diversity of participants has a positive impact on multiethnic interactions and broadens the perspective of knowledge and enriches the diversity of the learning environment. Furthermore, the findings also suggested that interaction and collaboration between students and tutors could be in the form of feedback given by the tutors to students, also informal interactions among students on social media. However, interaction and collaboration rarely occurred because students only responded to discussions and assignments given individually, and did not respond to other students in the discussions.