Online learning has numerous perks. It allows people to learn from anywhere at any time, from a device of their choice. This means you can access content beyond geographical barriers and learn from experts from across the globe. This allows people to learn new skills and keep upgrading their knowledge without having to travel to another location.
When the pandemic mandated online learning, a lot of educational institutions were not prepared for the sudden shift to online learning. This led to a lot of confusion and students were left stressed about their future. Considering the situation is going to persist for quite some time now, it is vital for educational institutions to find better ways to impart learning.
Here are 4 ways you can provide students a rich learning experience that takes away their stress:
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1. Create a well-planned schedule:
Online learning provides great flexibility, but it can often ruin the entire learning experience if its power is not leveraged well. This is why online instructors must always set a solid routine to ensure students are always present for it.
Share a detailed schedule with students to help them understand what they can expect from a session. This prevents them from any confusion and allows them to come prepared for the topic at hand. Also, having a fixed routine helps students plan their day better and improves their focus.
2. Provide self-paced learning options:
Apart from instructor-led sessions, students can greatly benefit from self-paced courses from which they can learn on their own. This brings variety to the learning routine and allows students to spend as much time they want on a topic. It is important to host a discussion for students later to resolve any queries they may have in the self-paced course material.
Self-paced eLearning courses can be created using videos, graphic images, animations and text for certain topics. The amazing thing is, it’s very easy to create an online course with the help of eLearning authoring tools. Popular tools like Easygenerator are so easy to use that you can effortlessly create courses and quizzes without any eLearning background.
3. Make sure students are engaged:
Engaging students in a virtual classroom setup is extremely challenging. Since they are forced to learn alone, the element of social learning is taken away which makes them feel isolated. Moreover, if the online classes are not fun, they may end up losing interest.
To keep students engaged, instructors need to get creative with their training methods. Create exercises that foster healthy competition amongst students and gets them involved. Schedule breaks in between sessions to allow students to socialize and have a lively interaction.
4. Encourage innovation:
These are highly unusual times, so your way of teaching can get unusual too. Consider giving students assignments that will get them excited rather than something that keeps them glued to the screen. Instead of sticking to the usual way of student assessment, give them tasks that are fun and help them learn in the process.
For instance, instead of making them write a thousand words for an assignment or create a presentation with slides, ask them to shoot a video from their phone to explain a concept through their everyday lives. This will actually increase the likelihood of them studying the concept first to produce innovative results.
Conclusion:
We hope the above mentioned tips will help you provide effective virtual learning to your students. Additionally, online class instructors need to be flexible with students to prevent them from feeling pressured. Cutting every student some slack may not be ideal as it may make them procrastinators. So instead, identify struggling students, and support them by being flexible about deadlines.
Also Read: Tools To Make Your Online Soft Skills Training Better
