Motivation to Learn and Distance Learning Programs: What Brazilian Workers Think about?

Abstract

Distance education encompasses all forms of learning and teaching in which those who learn and who teach are in different locations. It involves the separation of teachers and learners which distinguishes it from face-to-face education. Online education is characterized by the influence of an educational organization which distinguishes it from self-study and private tutoring. Organizations are both consumers and suppliers of distance education because of its benefits such as productivity improvements and cost savings in training. This paper aims to identify the motivational profile to learning by distance education students who work in a national Brazilian Organization. We consider that the participation in distance learning programs is motivator of stay work. We applied a Brazilian questionnaire (17 item) to 127 employees (majority were male 97.60%, in the range 26 - 33 years and 6 to 10 years of time of service in the Organization) who were enrolled or who had taken any course in distance modality in the last 2 years. The results indicate that there is a relatively negative participants’ perception about how distance-learning programs can add to their performance in terms of skills and competences acquisition. The support of colleagues is very important for learning and its impact at work organizational routines.