Fast start with distance learning — 5 steps to go online with your course

Students can participate in online learning from anywhere, anytime

Online courses enable students to learn remotely and more flexibly. However, this does not mean the end of interaction or the monitoring of results. In our blog, we present five easy and quick steps towards digitizing training sessions.

1. Define the learning goals

Start by considering what you want the course to achieve and how it will benefit the participant. Once the goals are clear, it is easier to decide what to include in the course.

2. List the key topics

Next, list the topics the course should address to achieve the goals. What should the learner know after the course?

This will enable you to create headings for the key course content. Listing the headings will make it easier to start producing actual training content.

3. Use your ready-made materials

If you have already produced content on the subject, you can use it as a basis for training. Import PowerPoint and PDF files into your learning platform as course templates. Then you can fine-tune the content for distance learning. Videos are also popular.

This video shows how to create an online course based on a ready-made document.

PowerPoint presentations often need more text content, whereas text-oriented documents may need more images and tasks.

4. Add tasks and discussions

Exercises make learning more effective and reinforce skills. You can also add discussions on various topics online to enable participants to share information.

Assignments can be used to test skills, to apply lessons learned, or to reflect on one's own learning. Peer-to-peer evaluations and discussions provide a discussion forum and bring out the participants' own views.

5. Send the participants an email invitation from the learning platform

Everyone can take part in the training regardless of their device, or time or place. You can use the learning platform to send participants a course invitation email, and they can use their own smartphones or other devices to sign up.

Online learning data is recorded. You can give feedback on assignments, and students' activities can be viewed in learning analytics. This will enable you to assess the need for additional guidance and target it at students who need it most.