Virtual Learning Community And Post-graduate Education: Relationship Between Motivational Teaching Strategies And Sakai-based Inquiry Learning

Developing inquiry based learning skill is the priority among priorities inpost-graduate education of colleges and universities. In21stCentury, however, with theincreasingly rapid updating of knowledge and widening of research fields, thecultivation and development of this learning skill can hardly be realized just in thetraditional classroom teaching model. In the wake of the ever accelerating andimproving computer network and instructional technology, virtual learning communityhas been applied in teaching practice of higher education due to its high autonomy,interactivity and interoperability, which provides a sound environment for thedevelopment of post graduates’ inquiry-based learning skills. Nevertheless, by whatkind of teaching methods can the teachers better facilitate the graduates’ inquiry basedlearning skills when teaching in a virtual learning community? Since the motivationalteaching strategy is one of the principal elements of improving learning behaviors andstyles, how is it related with inquiry based learning in a virtual learning community？Considering the lack of the research on this issue currently, the author conductedan empirical study on the above questions. In accordance with the motivational strategyframework and inquiry based learning theory, the writer designed not only amulti-aspects questionnaire survey to investigate the utilization frequency ofmotivational teaching strategies and inquiry based learning skills, but also set up “Yesor No” questions in pre-and post-experiment to see the inquiry based learning situationof the students before and after the experiment. Then the writer, through theexperimental data, verified the hypothesis—the utilization of motivational teachingstrategies can better promote the development of students’ inquiry based learning skillsin English virtual learning community through empirical date.The objects of this study were150English major post graduates of ChongqingUniversity. All of them had participated in at least one course’s activities of learning andresearching on the Sakai virtual learning community under the request and guidance oftheir course professors. The research contents included two aspects:1) When thesubjects entered the Sakai platform for the first time, an inquiry based learning situationsurvey was issued to them, namely the pre-survey “Yes or No” questions. After thecourse had ended for about one semester, the subjects were given another survey ontheir inquiry based learning status, namely the post-survey “Yes or No” questions. And then the comparison of the data collected from these two surveys was conducted to get ageneral idea of students’ inquiry based learning progress after participating in theexperiment.2) By the end of the course, all the participants received two sheets ofquestionnaires: one was for investigating the professors’ utilization of motivationalstrategies, and the other for surveying the situation of the post graduates’ inquiry basedlearning, so that the author could analyze the correlation of motivational teachingstrategies usage and the cultivation of students’ inquiry based leaning behavior and skilldevelopment, as well as the influence that the motivational strategies had on students’inquiry based learning. The author adopted the multiple regression analysis to analyzeand verify the relationship between motivational teaching strategies utilization andstudents’ inquiry based learning.The result of the experiment and data analysis indicated that the utilization ofmotivational teaching strategies could effectively facilitate the cultivation of inquirybased learning behavior and development of students’ inquiry based learning skills.