With the growth and development in science and technology, leaving behind the conventional methods of education, online courses are becoming the new preference of educators and learners all across the world. An online course is said to be successful when it meets the expectations, and needs of the learners and provides them with an effective and satisfactory learning experience. For better online course selling and success, educators must focus on enhancing the learning experience of the students. Let us discuss some steps that one can follow in this regard.
6 Ways for educators to enhance the online learning experience
1. Use multimedia
Focusing on the classes via computer and mobile screens is already challenging for many students. And if teachers will limit teaching to textbooks, learning will become exhausting, boring, and less understandable to students. To enrich the learning experience of the students, you must use technology to teach.
Today’s kids are highly attracted to technology and using multimedia tools in online classes will be very helpful. By using online teaching apps and sites, teachers can access several audiovisual tools like educational videos, modules, demonstrations, picture cards, PowerPoint presentations, and more. With the help of visualization, students tend to understand the concepts better and more quickly.
2. Provide video lectures
Along with online live classes, many learners opt for asynchronous courses too. To enrich their self-paced learning experience, providing video lectures is very helpful. Understanding from ebooks and PDFs can be difficult but, the same via videos can be easy and engaging. The videos can be re-watched as many times as a student wants. This improves students’ learning experience and course performance too. To make quality video lectures for the students focus on the following points:
- Have a dedicated workplace to record high-quality video lectures.
- Invest in the right tools like a good quality camera, headset, microphone, and tripod.
- Add visual elements to make your video lectures more appealing to the students.
- Have the right subject knowledge to record valuable video lectures for students.
3. Break content into manageable portions
Watching a detailed video lecture of a long duration can be tiring and overwhelming for the learners. They won’t be interested in watching a lengthy video and may switch it off in the middle. Instead of making a single video on a lesson, make a series of videos of a small duration. These short video segments become quite manageable and understandable for students. Students can access, download and watch these videos easily.
4. Keep the content mobile friendly
Make sure that your online course selling website where you upload the online study material is mobile-friendly. Laptops and computers are not owned by all and also these devices cannot be carried along everywhere. However, a mobile phone is something that all learners do have. When the study material and videos are mobile-friendly, they can be easily accessed by the students. Whether traveling or from any place and at any time, learning can take place. This ensures that students are connected and involved with their course content throughout.
5. Feedback exchange
To enrich the learning experience of students, your online course and teaching practices should be as per students’ demands and needs. To do so, seeking feedback is important. In online live classes, ask students how effective they are in finding the current online teaching practices and what more they need for improvement. Online polls, surveys, and one on one interviews can also be conducted in this regard. Also, to enrich the learning experience of the students, teachers should give regular guidance and feedback to them. Share with students their strengths, weaknesses, and measures for learning improvement.
6. Conduct online quizzes frequently
To enrich the online learning experience, having active learning practices in the classroom is also very important. To do so, teachers should conduct online quizzes frequently. Quizzes can be designed in a form format including questions like tick the correct option, answer in one word, true or false, fill in the blanks, and more. This makes the classes more engaging and interesting. Students become more vocal, active, and competitive and their class performance is enhanced gradually.
Conclusion
For successful online teaching, providing students with an effective learning experience is very important. By following the above-mentioned ways that are using multimedia tools to teach, making video lectures, providing content in manageable portions, keeping the study material mobile-friendly, feedback exchange, and conducting quizzes, teachers can enrich the online learning experience of students to a great extent.