One of the most important factors in successful distance learning is the correct motivation of the student. During the online learning student spends most of the time in the independent mastering of the material. This requires concentration of attention, perseverance, a desire to learn. In distance learning, many types of traditional motivation do not work as effectively as in a traditional school. What traditionally motivates a child to learn? The list includes good grades, approval, success, encouragement of parents and teachers, gifts and bonuses, and the prospect of getting ahead or catching up with peers, fear, predictions for future success or failure in life and career, joy of learning and opportunity for self-realization.

Distance learning has its own nuances. A child cannot compare his or her achievements with those of other children. It seems to be locked in his or her own online space. The only criterion for its success is the result of the teacher’s assessment. Sometimes it’s just the number of points scored on the test. But a more detailed description of  answer is also important for a child. Here, distance learning has significant advantages over a regular school, where the teacher and the student are limited by the time of the lesson, and the teacher simply does not have time to give a qualitative assessment of the student’s efforts. In an online school, this is possible. Neither teacher nor student is limited in time. An important role is played by the dialogue between teacher and student. It is necessary for the student to receive quality feedback.

Fear motivates the child to some extent. But this is low quality motivation. In this case, the child performs the task in bad faith, not in order to gain knowledge, but in order not to be punished.

Here is cognitive motivation plays a major role in distance learning. That is, the motivation for conscious action. When a child does a job not for fear and not in order to stand out from the peers or receive a reward, but in order to gain knowledge. Become smarter, expand horizons, and rise in their personal development. This is the most difficult motivation for a child who is not yet aware of himself as an independent person, does not understand his place in society, and does not understand how knowledge from biology or physics can help him become successful and happy. Therefore, the teacher’s task is to find these incentives. Increase his motivation.

How to do it? This is already a matter of technique. Pedagogical excellence is the key. The most important thing in any educational process is maintaining interest in the subject that is taught. Very often the teacher wants to maximize the depth of his subject and saturates the lessons with unnecessary and difficult information. And if in a regular lesson in a traditional school teacher can see the direct reaction of his students and adjust the presentation of the material, then in a virtual lesson this is possible only after the fact, when the teacher sees the results of the test tasks. Lessons that are illustrated and those that encourage the child to co-create, to search are always more beneficial. They turn him not just into an absorber of ready-made information, but into a researcher who himself discovers laws, produces theories, and gets to the bottom of it. On the other hand, learning cannot be a constant pastime; sometimes, or rather often it requires effort (mental, physical, psychological). And the child will sooner or later have to come to terms with it. In order not to look for easy ways, without getting any result from watching beautiful cartoons or funny pictures.

How to motivate a child to work independently and learn? This rather difficult question often becomes the main criterion for parents when choosing an educational institution. They would like the child to learn with pleasure and ease. The student is always more interested in learning that he or she likes and that demonstrates their success. They may ask the question: «What is the need to study for?»; If you study well, I’ll buy you … I’ll let you … I’ll give you … you can … «- this is how parents sometimes involve their child in the learning network. Unfortunately, children do not perceive the proverb “No pain, no gain”, for the simple reason that they do not need to work. Why bother? They have everything. Delicious food, entertainment, favorite toys, and prestigious gadgets. Parents do not give them the opportunity to dream, they quickly and without problems fulfill any child’s desire. This is wrong, because it devalues what they want. What is given easily and is always available will never become an object of struggle for its possession. It will not make a person feel joy from achieving a result.

Parents can motivate a child both with the help of material incentives and with the help of the promise of new opportunities that the child will receive in exchange for their academic success. These may be quite strong incentives, but they are temporary. When a child reaches the purchase of a tablet, bicycle, scooter, etc., they will stop learning. A material incentive motivates to achieve a situational result. And we need to ensure that motivation is stable, internal and does not depend on the presence of a bicycle and other interesting gadgets.

Here is we can divide the role of parents and students. Parents can have a significant impact on the development of motivation for learning. To form positive motivation for parents, we can rely on the following advice:

• be interested in the affairs, studies of the child;

• help with homework in the form of advice, not suppress independence and initiative;

• explain to the child that his failure in school is a lack of effort (he/she didn’t finish studies, didn’t finish something);

• praise children more often for their successes, thereby providing an incentive to move on.

Each child has his own natural inclinations that can be developed or ruined if they don’t develop them. If a person does not move forward in his development, it does not even standstill, but begins to degrade. This is especially noticeable in the modern fast-paced world, where thousands of discoveries take place every day. But in order for the child to understand this, we need enthusiasm. Child’s interest as a result.

In distance learning, the role of the student is enormous. We can say that it dominates the role of an adult who can control, force, stimulate, but this will never have an effect if the child himself does not develop his internal cognitive motivation to learn. The adult’s task is to help him do this.