This paper reports on an investigation into perceptions of international university lecturers and their concerns about students' social and academic motivation for learning in online learning environments. The study results suggest that pedagogic lurking is a widespread phenomenon, with some perceiving it as problematic and others as a step towards more active participation. Most interestingly, there does seem to be a lack of appetite for learning analytics software that would allow the close monitoring of student learning engagement and progress. Implications of this study for online learning and teaching are discussed.