Online Learning Motivation and Dilemma of Secondary Vocational Students

Online learning has been widely adopted in different levels of education. In the field of secondary vocational education, the application of online learning in education and teaching is also becoming more popular. However, previous studies on online learning among secondary vocational students mainly focused on the technical aspects and often centered on the domain of mandatory online learning led by schools, meanwhile also neglecting the voluntary learning through various online resources among secondary vocational students. Therefore, based on cyberethnography and a voluntary online learning community formed by secondary vocational students, this study conducted in-depth interviews with some members of the community to gain insights into their motivations for participating in online learning voluntarily and the difficulties they faced in the process. Through the analysis of the interview data, the results showed that the main motivations for secondary vocational students to participate in online learning voluntarily included improving learning efficiency, enriching learning methods, and expanding learning content. However, during the voluntary online learning process, students also encountered many difficulties, such as insufficient learning resources, lack of learning motivation, and time management issues. Therefore, this study suggests that secondary vocational education should actively explore the application of online learning and provide more support and guidance from both policy and practical perspectives to cultivate students' ability to discern learning resources and plan their self-learning, so that they can better demonstrate autonomy and initiative in online learning and achieve better learning outcomes.