Online learning platforms have become a popular and convenient way to access education, especially during the pandemic. However, not all online courses are equally engaging and effective for learners of different ages, backgrounds, and preferences. How can you make online learning platforms engaging for all ages? Here are some tips to consider.
Before you design or choose an online course, you need to understand who your learners are, what they want to achieve, and how they prefer to learn. You can use surveys, interviews, or analytics to gather information about your audience's demographics, goals, motivations, challenges, and learning styles. This will help you tailor your online course to their needs and interests, and avoid irrelevant or boring content.
During enrollment for the online course, keep a questionnaire form to Understand the Level of Learners, which helps the instructor to define an apt content and flow of delivery. And it also provides a way to optimize the learning experience by tapping into the knowledge base of the learners.
Know your audience : Play to your students' interests. When I taught ESL in China (2014-2018), I asked students what out-of-classroom things they did to learn English. Many answered that they watched American TV shows like The Vampire Diaries. Did I ever watch the show or think it was important?No, but they did. So be prepared when designing your online materials to do a deep dive into your students' cultural icons. And it doesn't matter how far they are from your own cultural icons. I once developed a game show ESL exercise based on K-Pop bands (Korean pop bands). Do an online survey asking your students what interests them.
Allow students to construct the frame of reference, deciding on the key points, purpose and methods for assessment. Have small group participation to begin with.
Unfortunately, it is often difficult to get to know your learners well before starting to set up a course. This is all the more difficult today, at least in higher education, as one of the evolutions of recent decades is the very high mobility of learners. In these circumstances, it is essential to adopt very flexible curricula, as classes are much less homogeneous than before. Such flexibility also allows courses to be adapted to learners in continuing or vocational education. Under these conditions, the curriculum must be aimed at learners with a wide range of previous skills, with initial modules enabling everyone to reach the level required to be able to follow the rest of the course.
Get to know your audience and make a good research. Ask them what they like or don't like in the current online platforms, what they would like to have new, what they would add or omit. Compare the answers from children and adults and see if there is anything in common. Games are usually the key - both adults and children love them, so a good online platform should have some milestones, awards etc.
Online learning platforms can offer a variety of multimedia and interactive elements to enhance the learning experience and appeal to different senses and preferences. You can use videos, podcasts, animations, images, infographics, or simulations to present information in an engaging and memorable way. You can also use quizzes, polls, games, or scenarios to test learners' knowledge, skills, or attitudes, and provide feedback and reinforcement. These elements can help learners stay focused, motivated, and involved in the online course.
Great. Post-Pandemic Digital Learning Fatigue is important. ??Covid-19 caused a surge in remote working and digital learning. Now, remote and hybrid learning environments are commonplace in both corporate training and education. ??While online learning and digital communication come with vast benefits, they have also given rise to?digital fatigue. This refers to a situation where we are too overstimulated because of fully digital experiences. ??It’s essential to keep this in mind when designing your online courses. Luckily, it’s still possible to host fun online classes if you follow our top tips and best practice! After all, digital fatigue does not lie in the medium but in a failure to engage your learners effectively.
Pour rendre les plateformes d'apprentissage en ligne attrayantes pour tous les ages, il est essentiel d'intégrer le multimédia, comme des vidéos, des animations et des graphiques interactifs, qui rendent le contenu plus dynamique et visuellement engageant. L'interactivité peut être améliorée par des quiz, des jeux éducatifs et des simulations, qui favorisent une expérience d'apprentissage active. La personnalisation du contenu, permettant aux utilisateurs de choisir leurs parcours d'apprentissage selon leurs intérêts et leur niveau, peut également augmenter l'engagement. Enfin, l'intégration de forums de discussion et de salles de classe virtuelles favorise la collaboration et l'échange entre apprenants de différents ages.
Adding a small but detailed video with relevant topic can create lasting memory in the learners mind. Real life examples will give learners practical insights.
Include multimedia elements such as videos, animations, and simulations to cater to different learning styles. Also Include interactive quizzes, polls, and games to make the learning experience more dynamic and enjoyable.
Poderá incluir um chat no qual os alunos poder?o falar uns com os outros, tendo o professor como moderador. O moderador também poderá estimular o debate de modo que todos possam participar.
Online learning platforms can also facilitate social learning, which is the process of learning from and with others. Social learning can increase learners' engagement, collaboration, and sense of community. You can foster social learning by creating opportunities for learners to interact with each other and with instructors, such as through forums, chats, webinars, or peer reviews. You can also encourage learners to share their experiences, opinions, or resources, and to give and receive feedback and support.
A great way to strengthen social bonds in teaching is to ask learners to complete assignments in small groups and then present them to all their peers, especially in the form of short oral presentations and written reports. This teaches them to organize collectively and distribute roles to achieve the proposed pedagogical objective. By working together on the basis of the resources provided by the teacher as well as those they can procure on their own, they exchange their approaches and points of view, allowing them to overcome many of the difficulties they would encounter working alone. Such collaborative activities can be carried out without difficulty even remotely but I don't see how that would make the platform engaging for all ages.
Peer learning or learning from senior grad students is very important. Family members can also play pivotal role is social learning.
One of the biggest challenges of online learning is that students frequently find it harder to bond with the rest of the cohort - and miss out on those informal learning opportunities that come with it. Addressing this can be designed into the way you teach, whether its scheduling separate, optional peer learning sessions, being less formal or including opportunities to work as a group.
Online learning platforms can also offer flexibility and choice to learners, which can enhance their autonomy and satisfaction. You can provide flexibility and choice by allowing learners to access the online course at their own pace, time, and place, and by offering different levels, formats, or paths of learning. You can also give learners some control over their learning goals, strategies, or assessments, and let them choose the topics, activities, or resources that interest them.
En el colegio en que trabajo fue visto con sospecha cuando propuse desarrollar un sistema de múltiples rutas posibles para desarrollar ciertas habilidades comunicativas en adolescentes. Partí de la idea de las inteligencias múltiples y de la libertad y autonomía que esperan desarrollar los jóvenes. El producto final propuesto era un texto (escrito o audiovisual) de carácter expositivo. Para llegar a él, algunos optaban por seguir una secuencia más corta, que era posible si alcanzaban determinado puntaje en algunos tests. Otros debían estudiar ciertas lecciones y luego redactar el guion o el borrador de su producto final. Realmente es más compleja la planificación de actividades flexibles y más personalizadas, pero hay mejor aprendizaje.
In order for your e-learning environment to be adapted to learners of different ages, it seems to me that you need to adopt a single overall structure justified by the context, i.e. by the content of the course to be taught and the level of the learners concerned as well as by the educational objectives sought. By offering learners several ways of presenting digital resources, you will provide flexibility, so that they can choose according to their personal preferences, including their age and forms of intelligence.
Learners have thier own schedules and commitments. Allow for greater freedom in obtaining content and completing assignments. To accommodate different time zones, record live sessions and make them available for later viewing.
Online learning platforms can also incorporate gamification and rewards to make learning more fun and rewarding. Gamification is the use of game-like elements, such as points, badges, levels, or leaderboards, to motivate and challenge learners. Rewards are the positive outcomes or feedback that learners receive for completing tasks or achieving goals, such as certificates, badges, praise, or recognition. These elements can help learners feel more engaged, motivated, and accomplished in the online course.
Solía creer que los adolescentes con quienes trabajo se veían interesados en puntajes y notas, al desarrollar rutas de aprendizaje. O bien, que estarían más motivados por la presentación final de proyectos de redacción y publicación o de actuación. Sin embargo, incorporé un sistema sencillo de insignias en las principales etapas de la ruta de aprendizaje. Resultó que se alegraban, se emocionaban; y me decían que habían recibido tal o cual reconocimiento; o bien, se preocupaban por lograrlo en la siguiente etapa. Las insignias digitales, como los aplausos, son una forma de recompensa inmaterial que puede resultar motivadora en procesos de mediana o larga duración.
Including gamified components like badges, points, or leaderboards to reward learners and make learning more interesting. Create curriculum-aligned instructional games to reinforce key topics in a fun way.
Finally, online learning platforms can also benefit from evaluation and improvement, which can ensure their quality and effectiveness. You can evaluate and improve your online course by collecting and analyzing data on learners' performance, satisfaction, feedback, or suggestions. You can also use tools such as surveys, tests, or analytics to measure the impact of your online course on learners' knowledge, skills, or attitudes. Based on the results, you can identify the strengths and weaknesses of your online course, and make changes or improvements accordingly.
Provide timely feedback on assessments and progress to assist learners to track their progress and identify areas for improvement.
??Create a more engaging virtual classroom Present your best (online) self. Use technology to your advantage. Find what inspires your students. Set goals and help students stick to them. Keep it interactive. Break down the lessons and make it digestible. Make your students feel valued. Be patient with your students.
Utilize interactive teaching methods: Incorporate multimedia elements such as videos, images, and audio files to enhance the learning experience and cater to different learning styles like The Smart Class or The Smart Education System. Gamify the learning process: Introduce game-like elements such as quizzes, challenges, and rewards to make the online learning platform more engaging and motivate learners to actively participate. Encourage a sense of community: Build a strong online community where learners can interact with each other through discussion forums, group activities, and collaborative projects. This creates a supportive environment and encourages active engagement with the learning material. [email protected] amitkumarsethi
Aulas interativas ou n?o, sobre o mesmo assunto, dadas com diferentes formatos para aumentar a aprendizagem e produtividade da turma.