Evidence suggests that motivation is an important consideration for online learners. Based on this, existing research has frequently focused on exploring ways to design online environments that are motivating to learners. Alternatively, motivation has been thought of as a collection of relatively stable personal characteristics of learners with a view to identifying those traits that predict learner success. However, more contemporary views acknowledge that it is the complex and dynamic interplay of both personal and environmental factors that influence motivation to learn. This presentation reports on research that investigated the nature of motivation in online learning environments from a contemporary 'person in context' perspective. It highlights that motivation is more multidimensional and situation-dependent than first thought and identifies a range of social and contextual factors that can combine in complex ways to foster or undermine motivation.