Higher education in distance learning format: Specifi city of motivation

The purpose of the article is to identify the features of motivation of distance education for adults, show that its formation does not begin at university, as it is considered in modern psychologicalpedagogical literature, but earlier. The author considers that the learning motivation is mainly based on already clearly and consciously formed goals, internal incentives and ability to self-organize. In a distance format, all this requires more stimulation, maintenance and development than in a face-to-face format where discipline is mainly supported by external sources, rather than internal. The main problem is that the student can acquire skills of self-organization and discipline of distance learning neither at school nor at university, and the student has to rely on himself or various courses in a blogosphere. In the adult distance, the university stimulates motivation through organizational and advisory support, optimization of the educational environment, operational feedback, which form the student’s confidence in the correct choice of the university and reachability of learning outcomes. Th e formal external incentives of face-to-face learning (schedule, discipline, control) give way here to personal responsibility and professional goals, which distinguish the motivational profi le of the distance student from the traditional face-to-face student.