Charisma Building in the E-learning Classroom: An Exploratory Study

Charismatic learning is the power to motivate the students, which is especially important in self-regulated learning. The results of the critical incident technique used in this study indicate that e-learning technologies do provide some good mechanisms to help instructors facilitate students’ learning and make collaboration easier. Knowledge enhancement by self-regulation of learning is the preferred characteristic of charisma in the e learning classroom. Students mentioned some of the benefits such as the flexibility of the learning schedule, having access to on-line material for review outside of class, and having access to comprehensive supporting material for collaborative learning. Collaboration can happen in an on-line forum. Another characteristic of charismatic learning is the perception of trust in the instructor which is related to the availability and enthusiasm of instructors. The results suggest that in the e-learning classroom context the instructor should work more as facilitators than as the sole source of knowledge.